The board of the National Communications Network (NCN) has launched an investigation into suspected financial irregularities at the network and the company’s programme manager, Martin Goolsarran has been sent on administrative leave in relation to a $3.9M cheque made payable to him by a major advertiser.
Goolsarran, who has been with the company for over 30 years since in the days when it was called GTV, confirmed to Stabroek News yesterday that he was sent on leave but declined to give further information stating that he prefers to give the board an opportunity to conduct its investigation. Further pressed and asked whether he was upset that he has been sent on leave Goolsarran said, “To be honest I am but I believe I would be given an opportunity to defend myself.”
While Goolsarran said he was unsure as to why he was sent on leave, Stabroek News has been reliably informed that it was in connection with a $3.9M cheque reportedly made payable to him by the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph (GT&T) company as an incentive for the production team that worked during the company’s jingle and song competition held between September of last year and February this year.
According to reports reaching this newspaper, the decision to send Goolsarran on leave was taken last week Friday following a board meeting with four of the six board members, and he received a letter to proceed on leave immediately that same day.
At the meeting were chairman of the Board, Dr. Prem Misir, who is also Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, head of the Publicity Unit at the Office of the President, Kwame McKoy, consultant Magot Boyce who is attached to the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme and Andrea Brandford. Missing from the meeting were head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington and General Secretary of the Rice Producers Association, Dharamkumar Seeraj.
Contacted for a comment, Dr. Misir, who would have signed the letter directing Goolsarran to proceed on leave, confirmed that an investigation is underway but said that he was in a meeting and could not discuss the issue in front of those with whom he was meeting. He advised that the reporter contact Raymond Azeez, who acts as the secretary to the board, for information but efforts to speak to Azeez on the matter proved futile.
Stabroek News understands that the investigation was triggered following a management proposal from the company to the board as it attempted to address the effects of the cutting of the $82M allocated for it in the National budget. That amount was reduced to $1 by the combined opposition. It is understood that at a meeting last Tuesday, the board considered the proposal titled ‘NCN Management’s Report on loss of Government Subvention’ which was presented by the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mohammed ‘Fuzzy’ Sattaur.
It is understood the board was concerned that the company has publicly indicated that most of its revenues come from advertising and the company had even reported that it raked in $500M in profit from advertising last year.
Sattaur, when contacted yesterday, declined to comment on the issue and would only say he prefers to allow the board to conduct its investigation.
In his proposal, Sattaur suggested, among other things, the reduction of the hours the network broadcasts from 24 hours to between 6am and 11pm; the reduction of the number of security guards and removal of guards from locations where staff are not under threat; and restructuring the company’s arrangement with the Guyana Learning Channel and moving to a tenancy agreement instead of a cost recovery system, which they have failed to honour in any event. “Failure to reach an agreement should result in our terminating our agreements with them and having them seek alternative hosting,” the proposal said.
Negotiating for reduced electricity tariffs with the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) was also suggested and if those negotiations were to fail, then the company could resort to using its own generator sets which can lead to cost savings, according to the proposal. “We can also install solar panels to provide lights to our offices,” it added.
It was while the Board was going through this proposal which included financial figures that it requested some financial records from the CEO and the company’s financial officer.
It is not clear how the $3.9M GT&T cheque became an issue but reports are that some members of the production team were unhappy with the money they received from the incentive cheque and spoke out on the matter. It is understood that the board got wind of the issue and at least one board member may have contacted the management of the telephone company. It was confirmed that the company was so pleased with the work of the production team that it suggested that an incentive be paid to them.
When this was suggested, the company was reportedly advised to make the payment to Goolsarran instead of NCN.
Stabroek News was told that this is illegal. Reports are that another payment was expected to be made which would have brought the figure to about $7M but it was not released. “There is nothing in writing to this effect but a member of the board was told this by the management of GT&T,” a source told Stabroek News. The source further informed that it was a breach of the company’s policy and the board’s investigation seeks to unearth any other irregularities.
Advertising
Meantime, the operations of the company’s Berbice operation have also come under scrutiny with advertisers complaining that they are not getting their monies worth.
Stabroek News was told that at a meeting with the major advertisers, it was reported that the advertisements that were to be played during the company’s core national programming are being cut by the management in Berbice who would then replace these with ads from Berbice.
Manager of the company’s Berbice operation, Faizal Jaffarally, who is also a PPP/C parliamentarian, when contacted by Stabroek News, refused to comment but stated that the matter would be addressed today at a press conference to be held in Georgetown.
Stabroek News was told that when an advertiser pays for their ads to be aired during programmes such as the news and even during cricket, it is expected that the ads would be aired countrywide. “But we are getting reports that Berbice has been cutting out these ads and replacing them with their own ads and that is not right.
The company should have had a monitor in Berbice unknown to the management there but this was not done,” a source told this newspaper.
NCN has 152 full-time employees and 70 contracted workers, including those who produce and host their own programmes.
