GPL Deputy CEO sent on leave

– for allegedly paying himself Gy$27.8M

The forensic audit being carried out into the PetroCaribe Fund has revealed that officials at the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) have been allegedly siphoning off funds into their personal accounts.

The revelation was made on Wednesday by Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson. The discovery has seen Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of GPL, Aeshwar Deonarine being sent on immediate administrative leave. He has been accused of transferring some Gy$27.8 million to his personal account. He also paid board member Carvil Duncan a sum of Gy$948,000, which was not authorised.

Government had found that close to Gy$142 million of the PetroCaribe Fund was plugged into the operations of the state-owned GPL. This was realised after Government said it had found an empty PetroCaribe fund when it took office and later launched an investigation.

Based on information, Patterson explained, the power company has two DCEOs – one for operations and the other for administration. Patterson said apparently the operations DCEO was receiving a higher salary than the administration DCEO and the operations DCEO had been making  representations to the Board for there to be parity in the salaries of the two. This, he explained, was reportedly disapproved by the previous Board. In June of this year, with the signature of Director Duncan, Deonarine made the payment to himself retroactive from January 2013 to June 2015.

Patterson said Board Members had made several representations to have board fees increase from Gy$5000 to Gy$20,000. He said while the Board had discussed the recommendation, no final decision was made in that regard. However, Duncan later went ahead and approved payment to the tune of Gy$948,000 for himself, representing “back pay” for the 48 months that he has been a board member of GPL.

Duncan, who sits on several other Boards and Commissions, including the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Judicial Service Commission, is reportedly the only director who received a retroactive payment from GPL.

Patterson said when clarification was sought, Duncan had given conflicting reports. He had said that the Board had given him the authority to take the money. When he was later confronted, he said the Chairman had given him permission.

Chairman Winston Brassington was contacted and denied ever giving such permission.  Patterson said when he was further questioned, Duncan disclosed that former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds had given the go-ahead. The former PM, when contacted, denied such and when later confronted again, Duncan reportedly said that it “had to be President Ramotar”.

The information, Patterson informed would be forwarded to the Police to assist them in the criminal investigation. The life of the current Board comes to an end this month. Efforts by this newspaper to contact both Deonarine and Duncan were futile.