Dismissed Materials manager guilty of violating procurement procedures
CHAIRMAN of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Board, Dr. Nanda Gopaul, has insisted that former Materials Manager of the corporation, Mr. Aasrodeen Shaw, is guilty of violating the procurement procedures, noting, “we are working assiduously to end corruption” within the corporation. Speaking to the media yesterday, he observed that Shaw responded to his dismissal on Monday by “making a number of unfounded statements”. “Statements which would convey the impression that he was this specialist and this technical officer who was doing quite a lot to resurrect the Materials Department of GuySuCo, and to bring some sanity there,” he noted.
He said there can be nothing in those statements which GuySuCo can support, stressing, “Mr. Shaw has been found guilty of violating tender board procedures, splitting contract, and a host of other wrong-doings.”
He pointed out that the board and management have had concerns about the functioning of the Material Management Department of GuySuCo for a number of months.
“We thought that we were going to get value for our money when Mr. Shaw came to that department, but when we examined what had happened over the period of time, in fact, the department deteriorated, the corporation lost substantial sums of money because of the splitting technique deployed by Mr. Shaw and some members of staff in his department,” he disclosed.
Dr. Gopaul revealed that the corporation has an audit report which indicates the numerous infractions committed by Mr. Shaw and some of his team members.
He said over the period of time, GuySuCo had to conduct several audits within GuySuCo.
“And we found officers culpable, and we have invoked disciplinary actions against them,” he stated.
He recalled some expatriate employers were dismissed, and this was subsequently followed by the replacement of a Chief Executive Officer, after which other senior staff were dismissed or faced disciplinary actions as a result of audits conducted in the corporation.
He noted that the corporation did not only conduct audits on procurement and GuySuCo’s accounting system, but several audits were done in cultivation to examine whether there were neglect on the part of senior management and several cases of neglect over the years were found.
He said some of these managers will face sanctions while some have already been questioned and disciplinary action is pending.
With respect to Mr. Shaw, the Chairman reiterated , “It was clear that he violated the procurement procedures”.
“It is clear that he has split contracts, and it is clear that his department came in for criticisms over inefficiency – he admitted to all of these charges, but by the time he would have issued a statement, we had concluded an audit within recent times in that department, and we have found several other issues in which Mr. Shaw has been cited for irregularities,” he explained.
He underscored that other members of his department were also cited, and where the breaches have been serious, disciplinary actions will be pursued.
“Mr. Shaw would want us to believe by his statement that he was above board, that he is a highly trained professional and that he was seeking to improve the efficiency of the department and GuySuCo, and cause savings for GuySuCo,” he stressed.
“But I have to indicate clearly that he has caused GuySuCo to lose money on numerous occasions by his actions, and in the particular case in which he was dismissed, the corporation procedures were violated and again we lost money as a result of his actions,” he noted.
Adding, “It would seem as if he was above the board tender committee, and he was above even the management, some of the finance directors to whom he was answerable.”
“Arising out of this report now, and because of the action he has taken, I am wondering whether we should not call in the police; and I contemplating bringing in the police to investigate this matter and to investigate him over what he has been doing in the Materials Management Department of GuySuCo,” he pondered.
“You cannot want to have procedures in place and violate them; you cannot set up accounting systems and disregard the procedures in those systems – no matter how qualified or competent Mr. Shaw claims to be, he violated cardinal principles of the corporation,” he insisted.
He said the board, management and stakeholders of GuySuCo will not tolerate violation of procedures.
“The corporation has been undergoing improvement, and we have been following a business plan to bring the entity from a position where it has been losing money to one which can be considered viable,” he reminded.
He said the corporation’s turnaround plan will see it making massive improvement by the end of next year.
“It has been a slow but painful task, but we are prepared and we are satisfied that the workers are fully behind us as we go about these improvements and the vast majority of committed managers are out there working with us to bring about this change,” he stressed.
He warned those managers who believe that they can do ‘wrong things and get away with them to think twice’ because “we are scrutinizing their activities”.
“We are working assiduously within the fields, factories, and officers of GuySuCo to ensure that systems which are in place are observed; we eliminate waste; minimise inefficiency; and end corruption within the entity,” he made clear.
He acknowledged that there are many good managers who are hard working and dedicated, and commended them for their efforts.
He said Shaw was employed by the corporation in September last year, noting, “…and the numerous audit comments against his performance speak volumes; but we did not dismiss him for all of these – we dismissed him specifically on the issue of electrodes which came to our knowledge and which caused a section of the estate’s operation to grind to a halt.”
He explained that the electrodes were supposed to be for the repairs of punts at Blairmont in Berbice and they did not get the electrodes on time.
“Mr. Shaw had the bid documents in his hands since mid-December; he prepared the bid documents for the board, signed it off on January 4 and kept it to himself, never bringing it to the board tender committee; he purchased electrodes from suppliers who have tendered; and then went back and got a fresh tender which he brought to the board manipulating the system completely – we cannot and we will not tolerate that,” he stated.
“And he can jump high and make whatever statement he wants to make, we are going to pursue this matter to finality and we are going to investigate every piece of transaction conducted by Mr. Shaw and his department over that period of time,” he stated.
“And we are going after them, and I am of the strong view that we have reached a stage where we will call in the police in the matter,” he stated.
Also present was Director of the corporation and Head of the Audit Committee of GuySuco, Ms. Geeta Singh-Knight.