Almost a year after a probe revealed evidence of financial irregularities at the state broadcaster, NCN, President Donald Ramotar is yet to reveal whether any action would be taken against the high-ranking officials implicated despite saying a month ago that he would make his decision known “very soon.”
The AFC chided the president yesterday for not following through on his promises. “We would expect him to stand by his word,” executive member Moses Nagamootoo told Stabroek News. APNU leader, David Granger said that the issue was not raised at a meeting with the President yesterday though he noted that the Parmesar report was laid in the National Assembly. He said that opposition members are likely to raise the matter in the House.
At a press conference on April 26, 2013 Ramotar said that he would make his decision known “very soon.” However, a month later, there has been no further word on it. Nagamootoo said yesterday that the AFC is unable to fathom why the president said action would be taken and nothing has been done. “We are not aware that the matter has been sent to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecu-tions),” he said. “Disappoint-ment is a mild word to use at this time.”
Nagamootoo said that the president is not standing by his word. He said that the entire NCN board should be re-constituted along non-partisan lines with members coming from a broad spectrum of society “so that matters concerning NCN must not be placed at the footsteps on politicians.”
“Though an independent audit was done and culpability identified….remedial action was put in cold storage because politicians had to be involved in a clearly administrative issue,” he said.
The parliamentarian said that if the file had been sent to the DPP for criminal prosecution, it would have been in the province of the DPP to assess what should be done. He added that there was enough evidence to merit prosecution. “The failure of the president to follow-up on his assurance has left us with nothing about which we could be confident about government being serious to deal with malfeasance,” he said.
In January, Ramotar told a news conference that he planned to discuss the findings of an audit into alleged financial improprieties at NCN with the persons involved before saying what decisions will be made. That was nearly six months ago. Critics have said the reason why there has been no action is that the two persons at the centre of the probe have close ties to the ruling party and they visibly played up the positives of government on state TV while closing out the opposition from the airwaves.
The NCN Board had launched an investigation last June into suspected financial irregularities at the network. Chief Executive Officer Mohammed ‘Fuzzy’ Sattaur subsequently resigned and Programme Manager Martin Goolsarran was suspended. It is unclear what his status is at the network now or even if he is still with NCN. Michael Gordon took over as acting CEO after Sattaur’s resignation.
Goolsarran was sent on administrative leave in relation to a $3.9 million cheque made payable to him by telecommunication company GT&T as an incentive for the production team that worked during the company’s jingle and song competition, held between September 2011 and February last year. Sattaur’s quitting and Goolsarran’s suspension coincided with the resignation of Yog Mahadeo, the then chief executive officer of GT&T.
The decision to investigate the incentive payment was taken at a meeting by NCN board members in 2012 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 in 2011.
Parmesar Chartered Accountants was then hired to carry out a special investigation into the alleged financial irregularities and several breaches were uncovered.
Invoice
Among other things, it revealed that Goolsarran, in the presence of Sattaur, in June 2012, 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 two employees reported that they felt that it was unethical to prepare a Job Order that should have been prepared in the normal course of business since January 2012 and submitted to the Finance Department for invoicing in June 2012,” the report said.
Both Goolsarran and Sattaur had declined repeated requests by Stabroek News for responses to the allegations contained in the report.
The report also said that a copy of an invoice dated 10 January 2012 with Martin Goolsarran’s home address was obtained. This invoice was addressed to GT&T and represented production costs for the Jingle and Song Competition for November 2, 2011 to January 6, 2012. The report pointed out that the invoice amount was $3,620,000 which was the same amount and services that the finance manager was asked to prepare the invoice for in June 2012 and backdate to January 2012.
The report said that Goolsarran, in a written statement, indicated that NCN was unable to provide to GT&T the full production services due to the requirements for National Election coverage and it was decided with the approval of Sattaur that part of the production work would be subcontracted to Hits and Jams Entertainment Television (HJTV). No written contract was prepared as evidence of the arrangement with HJTV, the report said. “Based on this arrangement NCN would have earned $3,620,000 and HJTV would have earned $3,930,000 for production services,” it said. The report also said that the NCN records indicated that it has 51 cameras and there was no indication of staff limitation.
Details on the receipt
Goolsarran admitted that he received on two occasions, 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. It noted that a receipt dated January 21, 2012 from HJTV was presented with details of two payments made by cash in December 2011 and January 2012 for a total of $3,930,000. “The details on the receipt referred to recording and editing of “GT&T Guyana Star 2011 Competition” which is a separate activity from GT&T Jingle and Song Competition,” the report said.
It said that Kerwin Bollers of HJTV indicated to the Board that he did not prepare this receipt but only signed it. Further the Board indicated that Bollers reported that the amount he received from Goolsarran for production work on the GT&T Jingle and Song Competition was less than $3,000,000, the report said. It pointed out that the GT&T Guyana Star Competition was held in August and September 2011 and NCN billed GT&T separately for advertisement relating to this competition.
“Up to the time of this investigation NCN has not issued any invoice to GT&T for production services provided for the GT&T Jingle and Song Competition,” the report which was dated June 21, said. It stated that in discussions with the Board, Wanita Huburn confirmed that two payments for $3,930,000 were paid to Goolsarran based on his personal invoice while a third payment was pending for an invoice submitted by Goolsarran. “It was determined that an amount of $3,620,000 is due for production services for the GT&T’s Jingle and Song Competition,” the report said.
It declared that it would appear that Goolsarran submitted a personal invoice to GT&T for $3,620,000 in January 2012 “but in June 2012 was attempting to have an NCN invoice be prepared and backdated to January 2012, to cover up the personal invoice which was not settled by GT&T.” Further, the report said, Sattaur was assisting Goolsarran in having the invoice prepared by the Finance Department.
The report said that based on the evidence gathered, it could be concluded that Sattaur and Goolsarran failed in carrying out their duties diligently and professionally. “They have knowingly breached the Company’s internal control procedures. Their actions in dealing with the GT&T Jingle and Song Competition clearly demonstrated conflict of interest,” the report said while adding that their conduct tarnished the reputation of NCN and its management.
Further, a number of functions of other staff/department were usurped by the two officers, the report said, adding, among other things, that they entered into arrangement 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. “In the absence of the written agreement, terms, conditions, rights and obligations of NCN and GT&T cannot be determined with certainty,” the report said. It pointed out too that all rates for the GT&T Jingle and Song Competition were determined by Goolsarran but this function should have been carried out by the ‘Rates and Special Events Committee’. Further there is no record to show how the various rates for the broadcasting and production charged to GT&T were determined, the report said.
Among other things, the report said that Goolsarran submitted personal invoices to GT&T for production services provided by NCN, collected payments of $3,930,000 and deposited same into his personal bank account while reliability of payments of $3,930,000 to HJTV for production services could not be reliably verified.
It outlined several recommendations which the investigators said that the Board should consider and take appropriate actions to safeguard the interest and integrity of NCN. It urged a review of the overall performance of Sattaur to determine his continuity as CEO of NCN. “He has failed to execute his duties and responsibilities in a professional manner and has condoned breaches of the Company’s internal control procedures. He has also demonstrated poor leadership qualities which are necessary to manage an organisation like NCN,” the report said.
It added that the conduct of Goolsarran “clearly demonstrates his unsuitability for the role of Production Manager.” It had urged the Board to obtain written confirmation from GT&T for all amounts paid and to whom for all services provided by NCN for the Jingle and Song Competition and “for all amounts paid to any individual, take necessary actions, including legal, to recover loss of revenue.”
It said that all amounts due by GT&T to NCN for the Jingle and Song Competition should be determined and necessary action taken to collect the amount. The report also urged the Board to take necessary actions to ensure compliance with system of internal control and procedures in place. It said that the Board should commission a total review of the company systems and procedures to determine weaknesses and areas for improvement which are necessary to safeguard its assets and operations.
The opposition had previously called for a wider probe into the scandal.
Many observers had questioned why Sattaur was allowed to resign in the middle of a growing scandal. Ramotar had 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 had been unable to say why stronger sanctions were not imposed upon Goolsarran.
Goolsarran was initially suspended for eight weeks without pay for allegedly attempting to cover up financial irregularities by pressuring staff to prepare backdated invoices, among other things. The suspension was later extended indefinitely.
