The Board of the National Communications Network (NCN) has completed its probe into the financial irregularities at the state-owned broadcaster and the report is now in the hands of the President, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon said yesterday.
Responding to questions following a post-cabinet press briefing, Luncheon while acknowledging that he has seen the report, declined to disclose if any recommendations for dismals were made by the Board.
“The board has concluded their investigation (and) there is a report that has been submitted to the Minister of Information, the president recognizing some interim steps and additional recommendations. The Office of the President is yet to pronounce definitively on that matter”, he said.
Asked if there would be further investigations into NCN’s operations he said that he doubts that there will be one unless it comes through the auditor general and his report on any of the state-owned entities.
When asked if the contents of the report submitted to the President will be made public, he responded that he would have to inquire. Questions have been asked as to why the police were not called in to investigate the matter.
Responding to a question on whether there were recommendations made by the Board about dismissals, he said “There are a number of recommendations made by the Board about current employees.
I am not at liberty right now to disclose what those are but I can undertake to ensure that the Office of the President and Minister of Information, (make it) public knowledge at an appropriate time.”
The board launched an investigation in June into suspected financial irregularities at the network. Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed ‘Fuzzy’ Sattaur subsequently resigned while Programme Manager Martin Goolsarran was later sent on administrative leave in relation to a $3.9 million cheque made payable to him by telecoms company 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.
Sattaur’s quitting and Goolsarran’s suspension coincided with the resignation of Yog Mahadeo, the then Chief Executive Officer of GT&T. It was GT&T’s payments to NCN for services that triggered the investigation.
OP had requested Parmesar Chartered Accoun-tants to carry out a special investigation into the alleged financial irregularity and following a five-day investigation a report was submitted to Luncheon.
The report was not released publicly but according to a leaked report seen by this newspaper, several breaches were uncovered.
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 sub-contract with HJTV without a written agreement.
Members of the opposition had called for a police probe and with the completion of the internal investigation it is unclear if this will be done.
