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Former GPL Deputy goes to court to defend $28M back pay
Suspended: GPL’s
Deputy CEO, Aeshwar Deonarine
More than three months after accusing a deputy head of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) of giving himself $28M in back pay, Government is facing legal hurdles in recovering the monies.
Aeshwar Deonarine, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GPL, was sent on administrative leave late July after an audit of the PetroCaribe Fund raised questions about the payments.
Explaining, Minister David Patterson during a press conference at the Ministry of the Presidency on July 22nd had said that there are two Deputy CEO in GPL- one for administration and one for operations. Deonarine was responsible for administration.
The Minister reportedly said that Deonarine had applied for the same level of pay as the Deputy CEO (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 Carvil Duncan, a Director who was also accused of signing off on $948,000 in payments to himself.
Earlier this week, Kaieteur News reported that efforts by Government to recover the millions appear to be at a standstill.
Deonarine has reportedly transferred the monies to an overseas account and is said to be out of the country.
In a letter yesterday to this newspaper, Deonarine’s lawyer, Murseline Bacchus, insisted that his client did not pay himself any money.
“He was entitled to that sum, as his salary was lawfully increased retroactively by those concerned of GPL.”
As a matter of fact, the attorney-at-law said that Chief Justice (ag), Ian Chang, has granted orders, asking that Minister Patterson explain why his decision to send Deonarine home on July 22nd, should not be quashed as being unlawful, in excess or lack of jurisdiction, irrational, erroneous in law and ultra vires.
According to the lawyer, the order was entered on the November 6th and served on Minister Patterson on Wednesday. The matter returns to court on November 20th.
“GPL is not in any position to dispute that my client was entitled to the sum paid to him.
It would be a travesty of justice if my client is charged with any offence in view of the documentary evidence that would be with GPL and which I expect would be part of the “crime file” if any.”
The discoveries of the “suspicious transfers” were made by independent auditors who were 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.
With regard to Duncan, Patterson in July reportedly said 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 had confronted Duncan who kept changing his story.
GPL is a state-owned entity that has been under fire for its spending and high tariffs. It is handling billions of dollars.
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