An accountant of New Guyana Marketing Corporation (NGMC) testified yesterday that $10 million was approved for the rehabilitation of the company’s Robb Street headquarters, in the National Budget in 2010, as the trial of former General Manager of NGMC, Nizam Hassan, who is accused of approving payments for substandard work, continued.
Hassan and Felicia De Souza-Madramootoo, the wife of the engineer Hanniel Madramootoo, stood before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, who presided over the trial in a Georgetown court.
The prosecution has proceeded with the trial of Hassan and Felicia, in the absence of their co-defendants, Hanniel, his brother Phillip Madramootoo, and his friend Nizam Ramkissoon, both Directors of Constantine Engineering and Construction Services Limited, which is said to be based in Trinidad and Tobago
It is alleged that Hanniel, the former agriculture ministry engineer, conspired with Hassan and others to approve payments to Constantine Engineering and Construction Services, although the works were “incompetently and incorrectly” done.
Owen Nestor, the accountant for NGMC, while being led into his evidence in chief by Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones, told the court that he has been working in his current capacity since 2007. He related too, that his duties as accountant are to overlook the financial management of the corporation, prepare budgets, financial statements and other financial matters.
During his testimony, Nestor told the court that in 2009, he included in the NGMC budget $10 million for the rehabilitation of the NGMC building. The witness told the court that he then submitted the budget to the Ministry of Agriculture, which would have then submitted it to the Ministry of Finance. However, he added that before the budget was submitted to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture would have held a review budget meeting for all the budgets pertaining to the ministry.
Nestor, while telling the court that no alterations were made to the budget at these meetings in his presence, explained that after it was submitted to the Ministry of Finance, it was then placed in the National Budget.
The accountant said that in 2010, the corporation had received an approval from the national budget for the rehabilitation of the building. Nestor said that he entered the information into the company’s file, and then told Hassan that they had received the $10 million for the rehabilitation.
Nestor told the court that the monies were deposited into the NGMC chequing account at Republic Bank.
The witness recounted that after the approval of the money, he had informed Hassan that the budgeted funds might not be sufficient for the rehabilitation of the building. However, he said that Hassan told him that there were some savings from NGMC, and he would talk with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture about getting approval to use those monies as well.
When asked by the prosecutor if he knew of Constantine Engineering and Construction Services, Nestor told the court that that was the company which had been awarded the contract to carry out the rehabilitation works.
Nestor told the court that he also knew of a Hanniel Madramootoo, who was the project engineer to oversee the works on the building.
He also testified that he also knew of an Afraz Ali, as the project manager at Constantine Engineering and Construction Services. Nestor’s testimony will continue today.
Earlier, Timothy Innis, a civil engineer officer from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) also testified.
Innis told the court that during the month of June 2013, he was told by the head of NDIA to meet with Hassan at the NGMC. Innis told the court that his meeting with the manager of NGMC had pertained to the repairs to the roof and the ceiling of the building. Innis said that he met with Hassan and he identified the leaks by observing the “water damage on the ceiling.” The witness said that sometime after Hassan and himself had met, the accused approached him and asked him to certify the repairs to the building that had already been done by the contractors. Innis said that when he went to certify the building, the contractors had fixed the ceiling, replacing it with new materials.
The witness told the court that after his certification of the repairs, he had been visited by a team from the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) in 2016. He said that during his interview with the SOCU team, he gave a statement.
Innis was later cross-examined by defence attorneys Glen Hanoman and Marcel Bobb. The witness told the attorneys that he had only visited NGMC twice; to examine the damage and then to certify that the repairs had been done.
The trial continues today.
