Former Prime Minister Sam Hinds yesterday said that he testified in court on Thursday that while Cabinet approved pay increases for GPL board members there was no decision on retroactive payment.
Hinds was responding to a news item in yesterday’s edition headlined `Cabinet decided on retroactive pay for GPL board members – former PM testifies at start of Carvil Duncan trial’. He said the account in the news item was the opposite of what he had said in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. He noted that in a letter to Stabroek News in August 2015 he had also said that there was no agreement on retroactive pay.
Hinds was one of the witnesses in the trial of former Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) Board Director Carvil Duncan, who is accused of conspiring to steal millions from the company.
It is alleged that Duncan and another, on March 31, 2015, at Georgetown, conspired with each other to steal $984,900, which was property of GPL. It is also alleged that Duncan and another conspired to steal $27,757,547, also property of GPL, between May 7 and May 8, 2015.
Duncan, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, has publicly stated that his payment—$984,900—was approved by way of a Cabinet circular which sets out board fees. He has also stated that he was paid fees owed to him for some six years since the company had not paid its board members and they were forced to use their own money for transportation and other expenses.
