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PPP Councillor demands findings of NCN Berbice investigations be released-Mathoo no show at Statutory meeting to renounce seat
Newly appointed Member of Parliament Donna Mathoo came under fire from Councillor Zamal Hussain at the monthly statutory meeting yesterday.
Hussain in his presentation to the council at the conclusion of the meeting demanded that the findings of the investigation into the mismanagement of funds at the National Communications Network (NCN) Berbice be made public to the RDC in light of what was published, recently.
MP Donna Mathoo
Hussain said that he was happy that Kaieteur News has brought to light what is taking place at the entity and the person in charge. In the same light he issued a call for the findings of the investigation to be made available to the RDC, a request he made before at the meeting.
“I am calling, through the RDC, to have a copy of the findings. Where the chip falls, let it fall. Access to information is our rights unless there is some clause in the laws. We are asking for the investigation to be made public to the RDC”.
“To date, the most competent man as he claims to be, Moses Nagamootoo, has not presented to the RDC to give us the findings on the investigation at NCN so that we can analyze what is happening there. NCN is an entity that falls within the ambit of Region Six. I know and I said it several times, that we are being isolated.
“In fact, we are being minimized,” Hussain pointed out.
He argued that past employees during the investigation either resigned or were fired but Mathoo who was only sent on administrative leave during the probe was brought back to work.
In a letter to Mathoo dated April 13, 2017, from then NCN’s chief, Lennox Cornette, who has since died, she was implicated by employees in a racket to hide cash received for advertisements.
In the letter captioned “Financial Irregularities at Berbice Branch”, an audit of transactions at the NCN branch expressed the opinion that staffers have defrauded the state-owned media company in excess of $500,000 monthly starting in December 2015.
The staffers used fictitious invoices, receipts and broadcast logs. Internal auditors found that among other things, there were verbal instructions for staffers to air advertisements and private programmes and other unofficial means even though these were not recorded on the official’s logs.
He said that there was evidence that orders were issued for the destruction of the fake logs and receipts before the auditors came in to conduct a special exercise in 2017. Kaieteur News has copies of the audit report, which clearly indicated a widespread, systematic fraud.
Mathoo in a public statement, which was carried by Kaieteur News in April 2018, said that she was asked in 2017 to proceed on leave to facilitate an investigation.
“I proceeded on leave on March 29, 2017 after which date the investigation commenced. During the course of the investigation, Mr. Omadatt Ramnarine’s services were terminated by the NCN. I was provided with a copy of the findings of the investigation. No allegation of misconduct against me was contained in the findings. After due consideration and deliberation, I was invited to resume duty on 5th March 2018.”
Meanwhile, although it was expected that Mathoo would turn up to the RDC meeting as she sometimes would, she was a no-show. It was anticipated by some councillors that Mathoo would turn up to renounce her seat as a councillor given that she was recently appointed an MP but that did not happen.
Hussain, quoted article 155 of the constitution which states in paragraph 6A that “if he holds or is acting in any office that is specified in parliament and the function of which involves responsibility for or in connection with the conduct of an election or the compilation or the revision of any register of electors for the purpose of an elections then this person is not qualified for an election in the parliament, this is the actual law”.
While positing that he stands corrected on the section he quoted he still believes that “you cannot be an RDC councillor and be an MP. This is a breach of the constitution again by this government so I know that we need to look at it”.
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