Fitzroy Corlette is no longer employed by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) as the entity has exercised the option not to renew his contract which expired yesterday.
“His contract ended and the option (was) exercised by management not to renew,” Commissioner General Godfrey Statia told Stabroek News adding he was not dismissed but the option was so exercised since renewal is not automatic.
Though, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan explained to Stabroek News that the former Deputy Commissioner with responsibility for the Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) had been informed of the decision, Corlette told this newspaper yesterday morning that he was not aware that his contract was not renewed.
“That has not been told to me,” Corlette indicated, Jordan however said that “It was signaled to the individual before that his contract would not be renewed, it was signaled to him a while back and that we were looking for younger folks to occupy these positions. He’s over 70 and quite a few people were worried that we were breaching GRA’s policy on not employing persons over a certain age.”
He added that Corlette was not part of his vision of the future of GRA for a number of reasons but declined to speak on any reason other than his age.
“I don’t want to denigrate anyone either publicly or otherwise. He’s been there for three years and whatever contribution he has made we are grateful for but that is the nature of contracts both parties have to agree for it to be renewed and GRA did not agree,” Jordan explained.
He noted he did learn that chairman of the board Rawle Lucas had had some input into trying to have the contract extended but Jordan advised that this was not the correct decision.
“The board is supposed to appoint the Commissioner General who appoints the rest of the staff,” Jordan stressed adding that Corlette’s 2015 contract was signed by then acting Commission General Ingrid Griffith.
Stabroek News understands that Lucas raised concerns about how Corlette’s departure would look to the public but was overruled since there had been numerous complaints about his performance.
