Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) has confirmed the revocation of the appointment of Chief Internal Auditor Anand Bharrat, while saying it was “irregular.”
In a statement issued last Friday, GWI stated that the decision to revoke Bharrat’s appointment was not taken by interim Board Chair Patricia Chase-Green, as was stated in a report carried by Stabroek News, but rather by the board’s Human Resources Sub-Committee.
The report carried by this newspaper said that the decision to revoke Bharrat’s appointment was taken at a meeting chaired by Chase-Green. This newspaper understands that while indeed on October 11 the sub-committee, chaired by Board member Samantha Fedee, recommended that the appointment be reversed, it was at the October 27 meeting chaired by Chase-Green that the recommendation was ratified and Bharrat was subsequently written and informed of the decision.
The corporation’s board in late September approved the appointment of Bharrat, who was employed with GWI at the time, to the position, which was advertised and for which he was the only applicant.
However, he was written to by the corporation’s Human Resources Manager Gale Doris, who informed him that effective from November 1 his appointment would be revoked since it was found that the normal procedure for the appointment was not followed.
He was also informed that the position would be re-advertised and he was free to apply.
It is believed that the revocation of his appointment is related to findings he produced on the procurement procedure in a contract awarded by GWI Managing Director Dr. Richard Van West-Charles earlier this year.
In its statement, GWI said Van West-Charles was not being investigated by the corporation’s board, which it claimed was stated in a news report carried in this newspaper.
However, the Stabroek News report, headlined “GWI revokes appointment of Chief Internal Auditor,” did not state that Dr Van West-Charles was being investigated by the Board.
The report stated that the Managing Director was investigated by Bharrat in relation to the sole sourcing of a contract and that he had been critical of him in the report he produced. Bharrat’s report went as far as to recommend disciplinary actions be taken against the Managing Director in keeping with the corporation’s operational rules. Bharrat’s report was also critical of Doris.
Bharrat was appointed when accountant Nigel Hinds chaired the board. Hinds recently resigned following differences with Van West-Charles and the seeming unwillingness of the authorities to have the corporation’s Managing Director be investigated following a number of complaints over his conduct by senior employees.
Hinds had recommended a motion be passed by the board recommending to Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan that Van West-Charles be sent on leave following an investigation. However, the motion was later amended to having the affected senior officers state their cases before the board before further actions were taken. This, however, never happened as Hinds resigned shortly after.
