Investigation ongoing – Misir
Chairman of the Board of NCN, Prem Misir says that a probe into financial irregularities at the state broadcaster is “ongoing” an assertion called into question by AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan who says that no investigation is continuing.
“That is false and just a delaying ploy to get the issue off the front burner. Who is doing the investigation? Let him say…. police or Prem or Parmesar? As I have been informed, there is no investigation going on. It is a cover-up,” Ramjattan said.
When contacted yesterday for an update on the status of the probe which is into its fifth month, Misir said that it is ongoing. “We have done a probe at NCN after which the CEO resigned for whatever reason and the programme manager was sent on leave without pay,” he said. Misir added that they cannot go outside the parameters of the terms of reference and what these set out to do.
He said that he has seen lots of reports in the press about the probe but nothing about the terms of reference. In June, the Office of the President had requested Parmesar Chartered Accountants to carry out a special investigation into the “alleged financial irregularity” at NCN in relation to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited ‘Jingle and Song’ competition. The report was submitted to Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon on June 19 following a five-day investigation.
The report was not released publicly but according to a leaked copy obtained by Stabroek News, the terms of reference were “To specifically investigate allegation of financial irregularity occurring from September 2011-February 2012 and with regards to the account for the GT&T ‘Jingle and Song Competition.‘”
In September, President Donald Ramotar when asked by reporters said that a wider investigation into the financial irregularities uncovered at NCN is not a top priority and he was awaiting a full report on the issue from the Board. Many observers had questioned why NCN Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Sattaur was allowed to resign in the middle of a growing scandal.
Ramotar told reporters that Sattaur offered his resignation to him “when you had some of these things in the public and I accepted his resignation.” The president was unable to say why stronger sanctions were not imposed upon production manager, Martin Goolsarran who remains suspended without pay. Goolsarran was initially suspended for eight weeks for his part in allegedly attempting to cover up financial irregularities by pressuring staff to prepare backdated invoices, among other things. He was asked to remain on leave for an additional eight weeks as the probe continued.
Ramotar had said that the Board is still looking at the issue and all questions should be directed to them as opposed to him. “I am not myself the sole arbitrator in this. They have a Board at NCN. A lot of your issues should have been directed to the Board but I think they probably needed more time to investigate. I haven’t had the chance to go in depth on that. I have been distracted with many other things,” he had said.
In the wake of the NCN Board launching an investigation back in June into suspected financial irregularities at the network, the opposition political parties, APNU and AFC, called for police to probe the state-controlled entity.
The period for Goolsarran’s second suspension is up and last week, he told Stabroek News that he was not sure when the suspension would end. When contacted yesterday, he said that he will not comment any further on the issue.
Luncheon in September had also said that he doubts that the police will be called to probe financial irregularities at NCN until internal investigations are completed.
Yesterday, Ramjattan said that he has asked several officers at the Fraud Section and the CID at police headquarters and at the Brickdam police station about whether any police report had been made and the response was that no file or complaint had been made to any of them concerning corruption at NCN. He noted that the approach of the police is that they will only investigate if a report is made.
The AFC leader said that the president and/or the Board members to whom Parmesar’s findings were sent to “ought to make that report to the police or the DPP for a criminal investigation to be held.”
However, he expressed fear that there would not be any initiation of a criminal investigation as Sattaur and Goolsarran are close to the administration. “And what is worse is that it is like a sort of promotion for them, when one is on full pay and not working, and the other having resigned is making arrangements for benefits. If it was me and you, one who is not a member of the family, we would have already been summarily dismissed with the consequence of non-entitlements to any benefits. So for all the madness and mischief perpetrated by them, a golden handshake is the penalty,” he declared.
He said that it is an injustice to all Guyanese. “Consistency must be shown by those who use NCN and state television and radio to whip up a frenzy against the criminals and culprits who brought disrepute to Agricola on that evening of (October 11), yet not uttering as much as a whisper against criminals and culprits that live within the institutions and offices of the land,” Ramjattan said.
The Parmesar report uncovered several breaches at NCN. The 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.
The report also said that Goolsarran admitted that he received on two occasions, amounts totalling $3,930,000 in December 2011 from GT&T for production services which he deposited in his personal bank account and claimed that the $3,930,000 was paid to HJTV on two occasions for their services. 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 further, this event was not referred to the ‘Rates and Special Events Committee,’ which has responsibility for such events. The two officials also executed a subcontract with HJTV without a written agreement.
