…as audit revealed breaches of financial regulations
The Guyana National Newspaper Limited (GNNL) on Wednesday said it terminated the services of its General Manager, Sherod Duncan, following recommendations from an audit which found that there were several breaches of financial regulations.
Fired: Sherod Duncan
Duncan, who was the Alliance For Change (AFC) Councillor for the city of Georgetown and Deputy Mayor, served as General Manager of the company from June 1, 2018 to April 1, 2019.
The Board of Directors of GNNL in a statement said the decision to dismiss Duncan came after a five-hour long meeting at the company’s office where Duncan and his legal representative, Attorney James Bond were given the opportunity to provide an explanation in response to the findings of the audit report, which was dated March 18, 2019, and answer questions posed by the Directors as to why he should not be disciplined in accordance with the recommendations of the report, which was presented by the Office of the Auditor General.
“All Directors agreed that numerous breaches identified in the report in all of the areas under review were of a serious nature and disciplinary action against the General Manager was necessary especially since he was on probation,” the statement said.
According to the statement, one Director recommended one month suspension and an extension of probation for Duncan while two other Directors recommended an extension in the probation period while three other Directors held the view that Duncan’s services be terminated with immediate effect for gross misconduct.
The GNNL Board comprises of a Chairman and six Directors; one of whom was absent at the time of voting and a workers’ representative without voting rights.
A vote on the matter of termination of services was called and three Directors voted against, while three voted in favour. There was a tie and the Chairman Geeta Chandan-Edmond supported the termination of Duncan in accordance with Article 94 of the Company’s Articles of Incorporation.
There are over 20 transactions conducted under Duncan’s watch or by Duncan himself, which were in blatant violation of financial regulations.
A special audit ordered by the Office of the Auditor General found numerous violations during the short three-month period under Duncan’s stewardship of the company.
Auditing firm Chateram Ramdihal Chartered Accountants conducted an audit of the State newspaper’s operations from June 1, 2018, to September 10, 2018.
The audit found that tender rules were violated, services were procured without contracts and approvals were given for payments without the regular procedure of company stamp or signature.
Further, cash advances were given to Duncan to travel overseas but he did not clear the amounts. It was also found that the company’s personnel policy and procedures manual were ignored during the recruitment, termination and dismissal of employees.
Guyana Chronicle has a Management Tender Committee, which approves transactions ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 before payments are made. But during the stipulated time examined, no approval was given for nine such transactions valued at $1.6 million.
Duncan took an overseas trip with the marketing coordinator for the resuscitation of the publication’s New York edition. This trip cost an excess of $736,028, but there was no approval for such an event and to date, no relevant documents were brought forward to support these expenditures, the audit found.
Efforts to contact Duncan for a comment on the issue proved futile.
