Labour Minister Errol Mc Leod says the National Entreprenership Development Company's (Nedco) CEO Ramlochan Ragoonanan was fired last month after an internal investigation into the procurement and construction of the company's office and Ibis Centre in Penal.Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar opened the facility in February.Mc Leod said at yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference that Ragoonanan was given one month's salary and all outstanding accumulated vacation benefits.He said the internal probe was done and the report submitted to the board after he raised questions about the project.
The board met on March 21 to look at the key findings of the audit, Mc Leod said, adding that the Cabinet looked at its report yesterday."It was evident from the report that there were suggestions of wrongdoing on the part of the CEO and the Ibis programme manager," the minister said. He did not name any of the officials yesterday.The audit was to specifically look at the "effectiveness and efficiency of the process and its alignment with the board's approval of $1.2 million for the project," he added.Consequently, Mc Leod added, the board suspended Ramlochan and the Ibis manager, with immediate effect and with full pay, pending the completion of the investigation and appointed Julian Henry, the chief operations officer, to act as CEO.
Mc Leod said subsequently Ragoonanan agreed with the board that his contract would be ended with one month's pay, effective April 30.
Contacted yesterday after Mc Leod said he had been terminated, Ragoonanan refused to comment, saying he had not heard the minister's statements.Asked about Mcleod's pronouncement of "wrongdoing" found by the Nedco board, Ragoonanan said he had no response.