Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon says that he doubts that the police will be called to probe financial irregularities at state broadcaster NCN until internal investigations are completed.
“The police hasn’t been called in because they haven’t been called in. I think that the activity that is being carried out by the Board of the National Communication Network has not been concluded and my suspicion is until its conclusion and recommendations presented to the Minister of Information—the President—I doubt whether one can seriously move in that direction,” he said in response to a question by Stabroek News during his post-Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, NCN Programme Manager Martin Goolsarran confirmed to Stabroek News that his suspension has been extended for another six weeks as investigations continue into financial irregularities at the state broadcaster. “Investiga-tions are not completed as yet I was told and as such my leave was extended by another six weeks,” he said in a brief comment.
Goolsarran was in June suspended for eight weeks based on the findings of an investigation launched by the board of NCN into suspected financial irregularities at the network. A report was done by Parmesar Chartered Accountants and this uncovered several breaches at NCN and revealed that former Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Sattaur and Goolsarran allegedly attempted to cover-up financial irregularities by pressuring staff to prepare backdated invoices, among other issues.
Sattaur has since resigned and he has declined to respond to questions from Stabroek News on the findings in the report. Goolsarran said that he will be paid for the period during which he is on leave from the network.
The opposition political parties, APNU and AFC, have called for police to investigate. Last week, APNU’s Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine said that the coalition will also be approaching the Auditor General regarding the breaches uncovered.
Questions have arisen as to why police have not been called in to investigate and AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan has said that Sattaur and Goolsarran should face charges in the courts. Chairman of the NCN Board Prem Misir has declined to comment on the matter.
Sattaur’s resignation and Goolsarran’s suspension in June 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.
The Parmesar report said that Goolsarran, in the presence of Sattaur, in June, requested that the finance manager prepare an invoice to be dated January 2012 to cover production costs for the GT&T Jingle and Song competition for the period November 2011 to January 2012. The amount of the invoice was for $3.6 million but the employee refused to prepare the invoice “as no Job Order was given to her for these activities.” The employee told the investigators that Sattaur and Goolsarran made “a few requests” to her to prepare the invoice.
After the finance manager refused, the report said, Sattaur and Goolsarran instructed another employee to prepare a Job Order for the GT&T competition production services and forward it to the Finance Department for the preparation of an invoice. This employee also refused to carry out the instruction.
The report also said that Goolsarran admitted that on two occasions he received amounts totalling $3,930,000 in December 2011 from GT&T for production services. “These amounts were deposited in his personal bank account. He claimed that the $3,930,000 was paid to HJTV on two occasions for their services,” the report said.
Among other things, the report said that a number of functions of other staff/ departments were usurped by Sattaur and Goolsarran. It said that that the two officers entered into arrangements with GT&T for the Jingle and Song Competition without a written agreement and they also executed a subcontract with HJTV without a written agreement.
