The board of the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) has decided to terminate the employment of five managers following the completion of two forensic audits into its operations.
Those fired on Monday were Veda Ramnath, manager of procurement, Ria Narinesingh, divisional manager of finance: Frank Mahabir, manager of maintenence and repairs, Surendra Balgobin, manager of secondary schools and Deva Sharma, manager of implementation.
Prior to the firings, Ramnath, Narinesingh, Mahabir, Balgobin and Sharma had been sent on administrative leave.
The news comes seven months after a secret "contract millhouse" was discovered at the EFCL's head office in Maraval, which resulted in armed guards being called in to secure a mountain of potentially damning evidence which pointed to the illegal manufacturing of backdated tender documents worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The recent firings bring the total number of EFCL managers who were axed to seven in the last four months.Yesterday, both board chairman, Arnold Piggott, and Education Minister, Anthony Garcia, confirmed the managers were terminated.
"Consequence upon all the information available to us as a board... the board, having lost confidence in the five senior managers, took a decision to terminate their employment, effective Monday, June 6," Piggott said in a brief telephone interview.He also admitted that EFCL corporate secretary, Verity Bynoe, had resigned ahead of the conclusion of the audit.
"The board has taken a very serious view of its mandate to restore the EFCL to good governance and financial discipline in the organisation," Piggott told the T&T Guardian.
However, Garcia said the decision to axe the five was as a "result of investigations that were conducted into an internal audit, arising out of recommendations that were made... those persons were terminated."He added the managers had been sent on administrative leave by the EFCL a couple months ago. He said a number of irregularities were found at the EFCL which resulted in two forensic audits being commissioned by the Education Ministry.
"Two audits were done...an internal and forensic audit. Arising out of those audits there were sufficient grounds to terminate those persons. A process had to be entered into, that process would have entailed they (managers) having appeared before a tribunal. All those things were done," Garcia said.
The audits were done by international accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which took snapshots of the systems used in the "millhouse."Asked what was unearthed in the audits, Garcia said: "What I am prepared to say at this point is yes, there were irregularities that were found." He stayed clear of answering if the audit found any level of corruption regarding how contractors were paid.
The EFCL owes its contractors and suppliers approximately $800 million.Admitting that he received a copy of the audits two months ago, Garcia said he could not disclose its contents. "It is under confidential cover which I must observe. I can't reveal what was outlined," he added.Garcia said the ministry's legal team had also examined the audits.
"I don't know what course of action those five persons would take. If they decide to challenge their terminations it means we cannot go out and advertise their posts like that. We have to look at what will happen first," he noted.
Garcia also confirmed that Shah and Maharaj have since taken legal action against the ministry for their dismissals.
"I don't know what is the outcome of that," Garcia said.
The T&T Guardian understands, however, that the audit turned up a questionable arrangement over payment to contractors.
A source close to the investigation said it was discovered that when the ministry made payments available to contractors who had completed their jobs, those cheques were withheld and instead forwarded to other contractors who had either not yet started jobs or were in the early stages of their contracts.
Some $100 million is said to be still owed to contractors who were affected by that practice.The source said it was a good thing the new board discovered the "secret room" and initiated the audits, adding it also worked cohesively and swiftly to rectify the situation.
'Secret room' find sparked overhaul
Back in November 2015, the T&T Guardian had reported that four select employees were hired to create contracts and tender documents for several existing projects which were already paid for in full.This was being done, according to company insiders, to validate the tendering processes to make them appear transparent and legal.
The employees were doing that activity in a "secret room" in another part of the building at the EFCL headquarters and were only discovered when the then newly-installed board was touring the building.Following the discovery of the secret contract millhouse, the EFCL suspended its CEO, Sharma Maharaj, and chief operating officer Kiran Shah over claims of impropriety.
In February, Maharaj and Shah were relieved of their duties by the EFCL's new board, led by chairman Arnold Piggott.The five managers worked below Shah and Maharaj.A preliminary report had also revealed that contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars were given out to select contractors in the run-up to the September 7 general election and they were paid in full without any work being done.
Two contractors, who were financiers of the United National Congress, had been identified as the major beneficiaries of the scheme.The EFCL board found the "secret room" on the first floor of the Maraval building, which is opposite the Country Club and also houses the main branch of First Caribbean International Bank (Trinidad and Tobago) Ltd.
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The EFCL is a special State enterprise formed to build, deliver and maintain modern building facilities, utilising best practices in project management.Its mandate is to ensure the development of modern and efficient physical infrastructure for the Ministry of Education and support the strategic goals of the ministry.
The company has been criticised frequently over its inadequate facilities for several schools which remain incomplete, or fail, leaving hundreds of children without accommodation since the new term opened in September.
In 2012, then Opposition member, now Finance Minister Colm Imbert, described the operations at EFCL as enabling a "feeding frenzy."
Imbert had raised suspicions of "irregularities" in the award of contracts by EFCL and had called for a forensic audit into several scopes of works, including electrical upgrades at Tranquillity Government School and Lakshmi Girls' Hindu College.He also claimed then that former minister in the Ministry of Education, Clifton De Coteau, used his position to help a friend benefit from EFCL contracts.