| – after paying themselves $28.7 millionDirector, Carvil Duncan and Deputy CEO, Aeshwar DeonarineGovernment has asked police to investigate two senior officials of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) who reportedly paid themselves almost $29M without authorization earlier this year.In deep trouble and expected to be questioned by police are Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aeshwar Deonarine, and Carvil Duncan, a prominent trade unionist who is a member of the Board of the Directors.Both are signatories on GPL’s bank accounts.Deonarine has since been sent on administrative leave. A new Board of Directors will be appointed shortly to address the issue of Duncan.The disclosures were made yesterday by Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, during the Government’s post-Cabinet weekly briefings.The discoveries of the suspicious transfers were made by independent auditors who are probing the PetroCaribe Fund, which hold proceeds of oil shipments taken from neighbouring Venezuela.Some of the monies were used to buy Wartsila engines for GPL, among other things.It was while tracking payments to GPL that auditors unearthed the strange transactions.Patterson said yesterday, that he was alerted by the auditors to their findings as it was felt that immediate actions were warranted.Deonarine reportedly signed off on payments to himself totaling $28.7. Duncan would have received some $948,000.Explaining, Minister David Patterson said that there are two Deputy Chief Executive Officers in GPL- one for administration and one for operations. Deonarine is responsible for administration.He reportedly wanted to receive the same level of pay as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Technical), Colin Welch, but his approaches to the Board of Directors were rebuffed.The payments to himself, representing back pay for the period January 2013 to June 2015, were reportedly made between May and June, shortly after the new Government took office. The payments were allegedly countersigned by Duncan, the Director.With regard to Duncan, Patterson explained that the Board of Directors of GPL had approached Government to raise the Directors’ fees from $5,000 to $20,000 monthly but no decision was made.His back pay represented the 48 months he would have been a Director. Again both Duncan and Deonarine signed off on the payments.Patterson disclosed that he confronted Duncan who kept changing his story. In the first instance, Duncan said the Board approved it. When told that officials of the Board denied they did, Duncan then said it was the Chairman, Winston Brassington.But Brassington denied he approved the payment.Duncan then said it may have been former Prime Minister, Sam Hinds. Hinds when contacted distanced himself from the payment.Confronted again, Duncan then suggested it may have been former President Donald Ramotar.According to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Government has taken steps to ensure that no interference will come as a result of the findings.Sending Deonarine on leave is one such measure while GPL’s Board of Directors will not be meeting and cannot take decisions that can hamper the investigations.Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum will now have a say in what happens next, Harmon said.It is unclear what impact the police investigations will have on Duncan’s position in other entities. He is the President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG),Cheap NFL Jerseys China, which was closely aligned with the former ruling party, the People’s Progressive Party.He is also a member of the Public Service Commission. The state of the PetroCaribe Fund had sparked debate after the new Government took office in May. Government said that they found it virtually empty. The monies would be used largely to pay rice farmers who are participating in a rice-for-oil deal with Venezuela.The previous administration had insisted that nothing is missing and rather some of the monies were used on projects.GPL is a state-owned entity that has been under fire for its spending and high tariffs. It is handling billions of dollars. |
