The Chief Executive Officer of the state broadcasting agency, Mohammed ‘Fuzzy’ Sattaur, has resigned and its Programme Manager, Martin Goolsarran, has been suspended for eight weeks following investigations into financial irregularities.
“I offered my resignation to the minister of information [President Donald Ramotar] and he accepted… I felt that reports in the press had affected the image of NCN so I resigned,” Sattaur told Stabroek News in a brief comment when contacted yesterday.
Sattaur was appointed to head the National Communications Network (NCN), which comprises television and radio stations, under the Jagdeo administration.
Meanwhile, Goolsarran confirmed that he has been suspended for eight weeks. “Given the facts that were laid out and because of the investigations that followed, they determined that we acted irresponsibly and, as such, I was suspended for eight weeks. I will return after it’s over. I will continue to work hard to the best of my ability,” Goolsarran told Stabroek News.
Sattaur’s resignation and Goolsarran’s suspension coincided with the resignation of Yog Mahadeo, the Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T), whose payments to NCN for services were a major part of the investigation.
Earlier this month, the board of NCN launched an investigation into suspected financial irregularities at the network and Goolsarran was sent on administrative leave in relation to a $3.9 million cheque made payable to him by GT&T as an incentive for the production team that worked during the company’s jingle and song competition held between September last year and February this year.
Stabroek News was told that NCN’s management was aware that the cheque was made payable to Goolsarran, who has been with the company for over 30 years. However, the board only learnt of the payment after one of the workers expressed dissatisfaction with what he received and raised some questions.
The decision to investigate the incentive payment was taken at a meeting by board members to examine how the cutting of the $82 million government subvention to $1 by the combined opposition, would affect the company. At the time, board members were also examining a proposal by the management of the company on the way forward, in the light of the cut of the subvention. The board decided to dig deeper on seeing the proposal, since NCN had publicly indicated that most of its revenues come from advertising and that it raked in over $500 million in advertising revenue last year.
Chairman of the Board Dr Prem Misir, who is also Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, when contacted, had refused to acknowledge that there was an “investigation,” saying that the board was just examining the company’s records following the cut of the subvention, as all companies would have done. In relation to Goolsarran being sent home, he had said that while that might be so, it did not mean he had done something wrong.
He said any company would have “conflicts” and the board was trying to fix this. “There are problems and we are trying to fix these, any company does that,” he had maintained.
Goolsarran at the time confirmed to Stabroek News that he had been sent home but indicated that he was unclear as to the reason.
AFC MP Cathy Hughes had said that the investigation of NCN’s financial records vindicated the opposition’s decision to cut the $82 million subvention proposed for the entity in the national budget, while pointing out that it is possible that past allocations may not be properly accounted for.
