Former Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Legal Affairs Ministry, Indira Anandjit said on Saturday that the non-renewal of her contract came as a shock particularly as a report by the Auditor General had exonerated her and she charged that a smokescreen was created by the Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams to have her removed.
”I am shocked at the way he has turned this into a big fiasco”, Anandjit who was appointed to the post in July 2012 said.
She was sent on 52 days of leave last December after it was discovered that millions of dollars in law books and computer parts could not be accounted for. An investigation by the Auditor General did not find her culpable in any way and it is for this reason she was surprised that her contract had not been renewed.
When asked by Stabroek News whether she plans to take legal action over the issue, she said “Given what has been happening and how matters like these are being handled that is the last thing I would do”.
Asked about her benefits, she said that she has been given her vacation allowance but was informed that she will not be getting the two sets of gratuity she is entitled to. She said that she got her last gratuity in July 2015 and was due for the next one in January, 2016 and then again in July. Anandjit said that she did not stay home by choice and as such the non-payment of her gratuity is unfair.
Stabroek News has been unable to make contact with Williams for a comment.
In a letter which was published in the September 2, 2016 edition of this newspaper, Anandjit stated that she found it “obscene” that over one month after her contract had ended that the minister announced that it would not be renewed without first officially notifying her.
The contract came to an end on July 22, 2016 and Williams made the announcement at a press conference on August 30. She said that she was only made aware of the situation when an article was published in this newspaper.
Anandjit said in the letter that on November 4th, 2015, after having proceeded on six weeks’ annual leave and preparing to resume duties, she received correspondence from the Ministry of Legal Affairs instructing her to proceed on her remaining fifty-two days accumulated annual leave to facilitate a “Special Audit” into expenditures for law books and computer parts for 2012-2014.
“Much to my surprise and embarrassment I read in several newspapers on December 8th, 2015, that the Minister of Legal Affairs, told the media that I was sent on administrative leave. That was an untruth”, Anandjit wrote in her letter.
She said that on December 28th 2015, two days prior to her resumption of duties, she received another letter from the Ministry stating that she should now proceed on a month’s administrative leave to facilitate the completion of the Special Audit.
On January 26th, she said she received yet another letter to remain on administrative leave for an indefinite period given the absence of the final special audit report. “I was subsequently informed that the report was completed and sent to the Ministry of Legal Affairs at the end of January. I was also informed that the report had cleared me of all suspicion of wrongdoing as the books and parts could have been accounted for. Yet I remained on administrative leave until the end of my contract in July”, she said.
She said too that to date, she has not received any official correspondence with regards to the findings of the special audit report though she had requested a copy of it. Following the request she said she was told it was at the discretion of the Minister of Legal Affairs to release same.
Disturbing
“What is disturbing is that Minister Williams feigned ignorance of these books when at a meeting he was told about them. It was even followed up with other discussions on procurement of books for the Ministry. It is grossly unfair for Minister Williams to publicly attack me saying that I could not account for the books when he knew who had them. I did approve the payment as the Permanent Secretary and the books were used by the former Attorney General (Anil Nandlall) and were kept in the Chambers. This outburst can only be deemed as mischievous and a deliberate attempt to discredit me”, she said.
She added that the Ministry does not store or stock computer parts and that these are bought on a needs basis on the advice of the Head of the Information Technology Department. Her role in managing stocks whether books, equipment or any other item, she explained is ensuring the criteria are met for purchasing. She said it should be noted that while I have oversight of the Stores, the Head of the Accounting Department has the responsibility to ensure all assets and equipment are recorded, issued and managed efficiently. This Head of Department, she said has the day-to-day responsibility of managing the Stores and this person remains on the job while she was sent off.
According to Anandjit it must have eluded the Minister of Legal Affairs that the Office of the Auditor General is constitutionally set up to audit all Government agencies. “It was he (Williams) who asked for a special audit to be conducted by the Office of the Auditor General. It was reported in the media that he did not accept the findings. The Auditor General’s conclusion is final. Is Minister Williams disregarding this?” she questioned.
She expressed the view that this was all “a smokescreen to remove me from the Ministry. When Minister Williams met with me just after taking office, he said he has to ‘change the face’ of the Ministry to reflect there has been a change in Government. In my opinion Minister Williams made no qualms about wanting to remove persons from the Ministry as they were perceived to be supporters of the main Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic”.
She said that she has had meetings with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Minister of State Joseph Harmon on the matter but to no avail.
It was stated that she applied for renewal of her contract and two days prior to the expiration date she received a mail from Harmon’s office saying the final decision to renew rested with Williams.
She said that in the absence of “not setting objectives with me and having only worked with me for a few months, he (Williams) really was in no position to make that judgement”.
According to Anandjit, it was very clear that Williams paid no attention to the previous Audit and Public Accounts Committee reports.
She said that after years of hard work, conducting duties with integrity and transparency, excellent Audit reports and good reviews from the Public Accounts Committee, “the careless action of the Minister of Legal Affairs has caused immense embarrassment and damage to my credibility. I am truly saddened and disappointed in the manner in which I was tossed out. We know that women fight a continuous battle for respect, equity and equal treatment. As a professional woman with the relevant skills, experience and qualification, I feel offended at the way this matter was handled by the Minister”.
No authority
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall in an invited comment said that Williams acted outside of his authority. He said that Williams has no authority to send the PS on leave or to exercise any disciplinary measures against the PS.
He said that PSs are appointed by the President of the Republic under the constitution and therefore only the president or someone authorised by him can send the PS on leave or exercise disciplinary control over that officer.
“Again this AG has fallen into error. Recently he encroached on the constitutional authority of the Judicial Service Commission, now we see him encroaching upon the constitutional authority of the president”, Nandlall said.
Nandlall stressed that in his view Williams’ decision is “procedurally improper, is ultra vires and is unlawful”.
He questioned why Anandjit was sent on leave. “Firstly she was sent on leave to facilitate an investigation commission by the AG involving the Auditor General. That investigation was concluded and the report handed to the Attorney General since January 2016. Significantly the report exonerated the permanent secretary from all wrongdoing. One would have expected that she would have been recalled to her job with an apology tendered to her for the false and libellous accusations made against her in the press by the AG. Instead the AG rejects the auditor general’s report, something I am not sure he has the authority to do”, he said. Nandlall stated that the auditor general is the constitutional auditor of all public accounts. “I don’t know where this AG get the authority to reject the Auditor General’s findings in any given report”.
