(Trinidad Express) CAL chairman Rabindra Moonan yesterday defended his board’s decisions in the midst of financial challenges.
The six-year-old state company has found itself managing a billion-dollar debt and having to write off millions in losses owing to mismanagement of the company’s cargo revenues and credit card fraud.
In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, Moonan said the board had “settled down” and was trying to take the organisation forward.
The CAL board comprises chairman, Rabindra Moonan, Mohan Jaikaran, Gizelle Russell, Venosh Sagewan-Maraj, Avedanand Persad and Jamaican businessman Denis Lalor.
“All boards appointed by the political administration could be classified as political but the board decisions are not politically motivated. We are about moving to profitability,” he said.
Asked whether his board had the level of competence to take the organisation forward, Moonan responded: “The evidence moving forward is that this board has taken a decision and approved a transformation plan for the organisation. It is difficult to appreciate that the board doesn’t have the level of competence to respond to the needs of the airline.”
Moonan observed that while the company was trying to move forward, it was stymied by the actions of disgruntled former employees who he blames for the leaks about the company’s financial state.
“It cannot be coincidence that now that the board has taken certain actions and there are certain more to come, that fires are being lit and people are using the media to advance a certain story about the company,” he said.
Questioned on whether heads would roll for the massive losses caused by mismanagement, Moonan said reports are expected to be presented on those matters at tomorrow’s board meeting and the board would take decisive action.
Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Vasant Bharath, however says he’s “very concerned” about national carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL).
Bharath told the Express yesterday that he was still awaiting reports requested from the company on several matters.
“We must be concerned with any organisation which runs sub-optimally. This just shows that you need the right people in the right places,” he said.
Questioned on what action the Government was going to take to deal with the matter, Bharath said the decision to take action resided with the board’s committee comprising of members of Cabinet.
Bharath, who is not a part of that committee, said in such a case where allegations are being made about CAL’s vice-chairman and questionable decisions by board and management to the detriment of the airline, it should be a matter of importance for the committee to review the board.
The terms of office of the board were renewed by the Government when it expired last November.
Bharath conceded that one of CAL’s problems was that it did not plan properly for the post merger with the Air Jamaica and the situation was proving to be one that is “difficult to recover”.
He noted that Jaikaran and acting chief executive, Robert Corbie, had presented CAL’s Transformation and Stabilisation Plan to himself and Finance Minister Larry Howai last week which looked at reducing the company’s debt in the coming months.
CAL’s chief financial officer (CFO), Shiva Ramnarine, said he was happy with the progress the company has made in the past three months as the “transformation roadmap has already put us in a positive cash-flow position which continues to strengthen and we are aggressively aiming to break even by end of year.”
Asked whether he agreed with some of the executives that the company has been mismanaged, Ramnarine responded: “My position has been clear and succinctly articulated on this, our modus operandi going forward reflects that of a performance culture. I have said repeatedly I am not concerned with the past or focus on mismanagement but forging alignment with all management for an aggressive mandate going forward for CAL.”
He said going forward, the company’s management was aware that an accountability model would be established to hold the management responsible for the airline’s performance. He conceded that after news of the company’s financial woes were published, he had had to meet with vendors to allay their concerns.
