Former Chairman of the Guyana National Broad-casting Authority (GNBA) Leonard Craig has rejected the findings of the Board of Inquiry that cleared board members Anthony Vieira and Vic Insanally of allegations of misconduct, while saying that there are records to show they acted outside of their mandate.
Craig, who resigned in December as GNBA Chairman before he could be relieved of the post in keeping with a Board of Inquiry recommendation, yesterday broke his silence on the findings.
The Board of Inquiry, which was led by Major General (Rtd) Joe Singh, concluded that the characters of Vieira and Insanally were impugned by public statements made by Craig in relation to allegations made against them by unlicensed operator Kenwin Charles, of North West TV Inc.
Craig, in a public statement last September, had said Charles made a complaint to him against Vieira and Insanally. Craig had then committed to an investigation once a formal complaint was made but Vieira and Insanally subsequently sent him a lawyer’s letter, warning him to desist from repeating “false” allegations made by Charles, while adding that they will be seeking damages for him publicising them. They also called on him to apologise.
The Board of Inquiry was convened the next month and its findings, including that neither Vieira nor Insanally was dishonest or corrupt, were accepted by the government.
Craig, however, says that he remains prepared to defend himself in court, while maintaining that both board members acted outside of their authority during an engagement with Charles. This is according to a response to the findings of the Board of Inquiry, which Craig released yesterday.
In the response, which was submitted to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo in December, Craig said he felt compelled to set the record straight in light of what he dubbed, “biased personal points of view and illogical and contradictory conclusions” in the findings of the inquiry.
Misrepresented
On Charles’ allegations, Craig noted that Vieira and Insanally, as part of a process to regularise cable operators countrywide, were to only meet with operators for fact finding. However, he said that at a meeting with the first of the two operators in Essequibo county Vieira awarded a franchise to Oscar Joseph of Premium Communications Services Inc, although he had not demonstrated the wherewithal to expand to cover the Essequibo Coast and was confined to a coverage area there of approximately five miles.
This claim was supported by a letter to Joseph that was written by Violet Boyal, the GNBA’s acting CEO, dated August 23, 2016, in which she informed that a decision had been made by the board to regularise his operations as a Cable Network Provider with a franchise for 10 years. A subsequent letter to Joseph from Boyal, dated August 31, 2016, clarified that the offer of the 10-year franchise would have to be approved by the entire board and the subject minister based on its recommendation.
According to Craig, neither the sub-committees headed by Vieira and Insanally nor the board had up to that point discussed franchising. “Our laws do not allow for such a practice and even if an astute legal mind could find some obscure section that does, some objective process ought to be used and the matter fully ventilated at the Board,” he said.
Craig added that Boyal, the Secretary to the Board, reported that she wrote to Joseph initially informing him of the award of the franchise. He added that it was after his warning that she had acted illegally that she wrote to Joseph again, withdrawing the original award.
Despite this development, Craig said letters to Charles, which were drafted by Insanally but had not been approved by the Board, were sent out. The letters were sent by the GNBA’s accountant, who deputised for Boyal while she was on leave.
Following his meeting with them, a letter to Charles, drafted by Insanally and dated September 16, 2016, stated, “Director Vieira pointed out that the GNBA does not want anyone operating in the UHF Band and you were advised that should a licence be granted to you, you will have to use the MMDS system to transmit. Director Vieira had also suggested to you the option of relocating to Mahaicony/Mahaica/Abary area where a greater target audience is available. You subsequently indicated that you preferred to remain at Queenstown, Essequibo and operate with MMDS.”
Craig said the correspondence misrepresents the legal authority of the board in frequency management and “caused the patently false impression” that the Board had made a decision to disallow Cable transmission in the UHF Band. “The GNBA has no power or authority under any law to assign or reassign frequencies, it is outside the remit and legal authority of the GNBA,” he added, while noting that although the inquiry accepted that Vieira acted in good faith that new regulations were being drafted, at the time this was not so.
He also referenced a private business meeting between Vieira and Insanally and Charles, which he said was conducted outside of the knowledge of the Board Secretary or other board members, at Insanally’s office. Charles recorded the meeting, where Craig said the conduct of the members was questionable.
Craig also highlighted that among Insanally’s 10-point agenda, which was cited in the Board of Inquiry report, was “Outstanding applications for national cable for Alphonso,” a reference to Essequibo businessman Alfro Alphonso. He noted too that at a statutory meeting, dated September 15, 2016, Vieira asked the Board to immediately consent to granting Alphonso a broadcasting licence to broadcast nationally without a review of the application. “All other directors except Mr Insanally objected based on a matter of principle,” he said. “Based on the foregoing facts, consistent with the presentation by Attorney Mr Nigel Hughes on behalf of Mr Charles, the two directors in confederacy acted outside their mandate, in excess of their authority…,” he further said.
Craig pointed out that at no time in his public statement had he alleged corruption by Vieira and Insanally; rather, he said that he would conduct an investigation, which would include getting a response from the two members.
‘Inaccurate’
Craig said that while concerns had been voiced to him over the selection of Singh to lead the inquiry, in light of his friendship with Insanally and the suggestion that he may also share a friendship with Vieira, he nonetheless had an open mind to the investigation and cooperated with every request due to the former army chief’s public credibility as well as his confidence in the evidence.
Craig, however, said that most of the findings and conclusions in the report were personally known to the Prime Minister as being inaccurate and he was as a result morally bound to ensure that the “blatant inaccuracies” are sanitised.
In a statement issued on December 16, 2016, Nagamootoo expressed “regrets over the attacks against the good name and integrity of Messrs. Insanally and Vieira,” while also thanking them both “for their selfless contribution to the work of the GNBA in particular and to broadcasting/communication in general.”
Nagamootoo also expressed “disappointment that Mr. Craig has taken no responsibility for his role in attacks on the character of two members of the Board, namely, Messrs. Victor Insanally and Anthony Vieira.”
He added that he felt that Craig was “an invaluable intellectual asset who had accepted nomination to the GNBA with enthusiasm and commitment, but has unfortunately mishandled inter-personal relations with other colleagues.”
In his response, Craig also chronicled the insulting and hostile treatment he received from Vieira throughout his tenure as well as numerous attempts to get an intervention from Nagamootoo. The inquiry recommended that Vieira be reprimanded.
