…chairman, CEO fired for allegedly diversifying into mortgage financing

A RECENT audit of the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN) has found massive discrepancies and the chairman and chief executive officer have since been relieved of their duties.

Minister of Finance Winston Jordan told Lindeners on Sunday that the funds government invested in the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN) in an effort to push entrepreneurship within the town were abused. This he said was discovered during the recent audit. Since then, the Chairman of LEN Mr. Klensil Grenville and the Chief Executive Officer Mrs. Tandika Miller, were relieved of their duties. Miller was appointed CEO after Minister Valerie Yearwood, who was the former CEO, was elevated to a government minister.

“It saddened me recently about certain developments about LEN…we have just completed an audit of the funding and what we found then really saddened me…and there has been some abuse of the funds and we had to do some restructuring; and hopefully the funds will be geared towards achieving the objective,” Jordan said.

When the Guyana Chronicle contacted Grenville on Tuesday, he refused to comment on the matter, saying that he prefers to deal with it internally. However, the Guyana Chronicle was informed that Grenville had reportedly sought to diversify LEN’s funding in an effort to create avenues for more income for the institution.

Jordan articulated that government’s intervention into replenishing LEN’s coffers handsomely with $150 M, was a result of a major role he played in seeking cabinet’s approval for the funds, and for three years, LEN has been sustaining itself. He added that LEN must be a revolving fund, which should strictly be used for the financing of small business loans.

Calls for Diversification
Loan Officer of LEN, Mrs. Neola Rogers, requested of the minister after listening to his comments, that the funds at LEN be diversified therefore, rather than to focus on small business loans, low-income loans should also be considered. “I think if the ministry could be able to diversify LEN in a sense that it is able to lend low-income mortgages, because we are not so rigid as the commercial banks,” Rogers suggested.

She posited that residents of Linden should be able to access $5-6 M at a much lower cost and requested of Jordan to consider the suggestion. Rogers made this suggestion after Minister of Communities Valerie Yearwood revealed that many low-income earners are experiencing difficulties accessing mortgages at commercial banks so as to qualify for ownership of the low-income housing units being constructed by the Central Housing and Planning Authority.

Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira, also suggested that LEN be more farmer-friendly, so that farmers too can access the funding for their agricultural operations. He said, “Farming is a risky investment and then the payment arrangement should be somewhat considered…”

No diversification
While Jordan agreed that farmers should be able to access the funding since their operations are business-related, he did not conform to the idea that LEN should be diversified at this point. “I don’t see how we can diversify with the objective of LEN being to build entrepreneurial programmes, inclusive of agriculture…this is a programme strictly for getting people into business and for people to own their own business,” Jordan explained.

He added that residents involved in agriculture, forestry, manufacturing and tourism should be able to access the funds, but not for mortgages. Rogers also recently called for residents to think more of manufacturing, rather than to seek funds to basically ‘buy and sell goods.”

She said that more residents should, “think outside of the box,” which will meet the enterprising objective of LEN. Rogers also suggested that residents pool their resources to qualify for group loans, which will allow them to access a maximum of $1M.