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‘High Court erred in decision to grant pension and benefits to dismissed CEO’ – NBS’ Lawyer argues
Kaieteur News – In a bid to convince the Court of Appeal that a High Court judge had erred in his decision to grant dismissed former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New Building Society (NBS), Maurice Arjoon his pension and benefits, attorney Pauline Chase has asked the Court to consider a number of factors which were overlooked by the trial judge.
Dismissed CEO of NBS, Maurice Arjoon
Among other things, Chase noted that based on the evidence of the trial there was a breach of the established operating procedures of the society under the former CEO. She noted too that while Arjoon’s lawyer argued that no fraud was committed under his client’s watch, “the legitimacy of the transaction,” was never relevant to proving the appeal proceedings before the court. Instead, Chase said that the crux of the case is whether or not Arjoon as CEO of one of the largest financial institutions in the country was liable for summary dismissal for non-compliance with rules and procedures of the mortgage institution.
According to Chase, notes of evidence in the trial as well as the judgment of the High Court, all acknowledge that there were breaches to NBS’ rules under Arjoon’s watch. In this regard, the lawyer made specific reference to the evidence proffered by NBS witness Rajaram. Chase noted that in his evidence Rajaram told the trial judge that there were at least ten instances of non-compliance of the rules and regulations of NBS while Arjoon sat at the helm of the institution.
However, while under cross-examination, she noted the witness could only recall three of those instances. “… That does not mean the other seven did not occur…”
According to Chase, while in other instances this bit of evidence could be overlooked, in the circumstances of the case before the Appeal Court, it only goes to prove NBS’S case that former CEO was guilty of gross misconduct and therefore liable of summary dismissal by the society.
The Attorney advanced therefore, that once taken into consideration, the High Court judge could not have determined otherwise. Chase said that the only reasons why the ruling went in Arjoon’s favour were simply because the trial judge made a number of missteps in determining the outcome of the matter. Among these errors, Chase said that the Judge applied the wrong application in his determination of whether Arjoon was guilty of summary dismissal. The lawyer cited sections of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA) in which the judge overlooked or failed to adequately apply in the consideration of the judgment.
She submitted therefore, that the decision to grant Arjoon his benefits and pension in keeping with TESPA was flawed and should be overturned. The case is premised on a lawsuit brought by the former CEO who challenged the grounds by which he was dismissed from his job since 2007. Arjoon and two of his managers were fired on allegations of fraud on claims that over $69 million was fraudulently withdrawn for an NBS account holder under their management. The men endured negative publicity, as well as a trial in Magistrate Court, before they were cleared of the charges.
An Ombudsman’s report had later confirmed Arjoon’s contention that he was framed for refusing to lend some $2B of NBS’ money to the Bharrat Jagdeo- led government for the construction of the Berbice River Bridge. Arjoon and another manager (Kent Vincent) then turned around and filed separate lawsuits suing the institution for wrongful dismissal.
After notable delays, High Court Justice Brassington Reynolds concluded in 2016 and later ruled that Arjoon was dismissed wrongfully; hence, he was entitled to severance pay by virtue of his status and contract under TESPA.
As such, following the court’s computation from estimates submitted by Arjoon’s lawyers, a total of $79,282,801 was awarded to Arjoon on July 20, 2017 days after Justice Brassington Reynolds ruled that the former employee was entitled to recover all benefits that were lost as a result of the dismissal. However, the matter did not end there, as NBS appealed the Court’s decision to pay Arjoon.
The company cited more than a dozen grounds, including that it was erroneous and that pension cannot be awarded together with severance and other benefits when an employee is terminated or dismissed.
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