National Gas Company chairman Gerry Brooks’ monthly salary from NGC state boards has dropped from $82,500 to $69,000 and his travelling allowances have been discontinued, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday.
Brooks also resigned from the board of National Helicopter Services Ltd in April, Imbert added.
The Finance Minister revealed the cuts in Parliament replying to questions from Opposition MP David Lee.
Last month in the Senate, replying to opposition questions, Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre had confirmed that Brooks earned a monthly total of $82,500 in board fees and travelling allowances from the ten energy company boards he heads and serves on.
Olivierre said Brooks was paid a total of $73,000 a month from board fees for the ten boards and, in addition, a total of $9,500 a month in travelling allowances.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar subsequently condemned the situation of multiple boards and fees, alleging Brooks was the PNM’s “Calder Hart.”
At a May post-cabinet media briefing Imbert had promised to review the multiple positions, fees and perks. Replying to a Guardian question on this last week Friday, he’d said he was still reviewing it then.
Yesterday, replying to opposition queries, new figures emerged when Imbert detailed the list of chairs/directorships Brooks has held since September 2015 to date, and the fees.
He said Brooks earns chairmanship fees of $10,000 each from NGC, National Energy Corporation and Phoenix Gas Processors.
He also earns chairmanship fees of $6,500 each from La Brea Industrial Development Company (LABDICO), NGC-CNG, NGC Pipeline Company, TT-NGL and NGC Petrochemicals Ltd.
Imbert said Brooks earned no directorship fees from NGC Netherlands, NGC/ENP Investments (Netherlands), NGC/ENP Netherlands Co-Operative.
He said the fees from NGC boards totalled $69,000 monthly.
Imbert noted Brooks also earned directorship fees of $4,000 and $3,200, respectively, from National Enterprises Ltd and NEL Power Holdings.
Imbert said Brooks is also on TSTT’s board as NEL’s representative with a $5,000 fee.
But Imbert said, effective May 25, Brooks asked that the travelling allowances he’d been receiving be discontinued immediately.
Asked by the Opposition Leader Persad-Bissessar if Brooks also received phone allowances, Imbert said Government was reviewing allowances.
After it was disclosed that Brooks’ monthly NGC board fees were cut from $82,500 to $69,000, Imbert—responding to queries from Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal—argued that the former FCB chairman under the PP’s tenure took home $71,000 monthly from various FCB entities. Imbert said that was the highest fee level he’d ever seen.
COST OF GHANA TRIP
On other opposition queries, Prime Minister Keith Rowley said NGC’s Brooks was among his delegation for his recent Ghana trip.
Others included Energy Adviser Ken Julien, Petrotrin chairman Andrew Jupiter, Energy Ministry Permanent Secretary Selwyn Lashley, the Ministers of Energy, Foreign Affairs and of the Attorney General’s Office, the PM’s press secretary, a photographer, a videographer, protocol officer and two security officers.
Rowley said his recent trips to the US, Ghana and the UK cost $1.9 million which, he said, represented substantial savings over the $11 million cost of a similar trip under the PP.
He said his delegation had a “bare bones” complement and had no extended family members, “no extras, no powder puff man,” and that first class travel was allocated only to those for whom it was appropriate.