The board of the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) has decided to terminate the employment of five managers following the completion of two forensic audits into its operations.
Those fired on Monday were Veda Ramnath, manager of procurement, Ria Narinesingh, divisional manager of finance: Frank Mahabir, manager of maintenence and repairs, Surendra Balgobin, manager of secondary schools and Deva Sharma, manager of implementation.
Prior to the firings, Ramnath, Narinesingh, Mahabir, Balgobin and Sharma had been sent on administrative leave.
The news comes seven months after a secret “contract millhouse” was discovered at the EFCL’s head office in Maraval, which resulted in armed guards being called in to secure a mountain of potentially damning evidence which pointed to the illegal manufacturing of backdated tender documents worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The recent firings bring the total number of EFCL managers who were axed to seven in the last four months. Yesterday, both board chairman, Arnold Piggott, and Education Minister, Anthony Garcia, confirmed the managers were terminated.
“Consequence upon all the information available to us as a board... the board, having lost confidence in the five senior managers, took a decision to terminate their employment, effective Monday, June 6,” Piggott said in a brief telephone interview. He also admitted that EFCL corporate secretary, Verity Bynoe, had resigned ahead of the conclusion of the audit.
“The board has taken a very serious view of its mandate to restore the EFCL to good governance and financial discipline in the organisation,” Piggott told the T&T Guardian.
However, Garcia said the decision to axe the five was as a “result of investigations that were conducted into an internal audit, arising out of recommendations that were made... those persons were terminated.” He added the managers had been sent on administrative leave by the EFCL a couple months ago. He said a number of irregularities were found at the EFCL which resulted in two forensic audits being commissioned by the Education Ministry.
“Two audits were done...an internal and forensic audit. Arising out of those audits there were sufficient grounds to terminate those persons. A process had to be entered into, that process would have entailed they (managers) having appeared before a tribunal. All those things were done,” Garcia said.
The audits were done by international accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which took snapshots of the systems used in the “millhouse.” Asked what was unearthed in the audits, Garcia said: “What I am prepared to say at this point is yes, there were irregularities that were found.” He stayed clear of answering if the audit found any level of corruption regarding how contractors were paid.
The EFCL owes its contractors and suppliers approximately $800 million. Admitting that he received a copy of the audits two months ago, Garcia said he could not disclose its contents. “It is under confidential cover which I must observe. I can’t reveal what was outlined,” he added. Garcia said the ministry’s legal team had also examined the audits.
“I don’t know what course of action those five persons would take. If they decide to challenge their terminations it means we cannot go out and advertise their posts like that. We have to look at what will happen first,” he noted.
Garcia also confirmed that Shah and Maharaj have since taken legal action against the ministry for their dismissals.
“I don’t know what is the outcome of that,” Garcia said.
The T&T Guardian understands, however, that the audit turned up a questionable arrangement over payment to contractors.
A source close to the investigation said it was discovered that when the ministry made payments available to contractors who had completed their jobs, those cheques were withheld and instead forwarded to other contractors who had either not yet started jobs or were in the early stages of their contracts.
Some $100 million is said to be still owed to contractors who were affected by that practice. The source said it was a good thing the new board discovered the “secret room” and initiated the audits, adding it also worked cohesively and swiftly to rectify the situation.