JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

TSTT: No special payment made to Bacchus when he left

by

1376 days ago
20211023
Senator Hassel Bacchus, Minister of Digital Transformation.

Senator Hassel Bacchus, Minister of Digital Transformation.

Na­tion­al tele­coms com­pa­ny, Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions Ser­vices of Trinidad and To­ba­go (TSTT) is re­fut­ing claims by the Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Work­ers Union that Min­is­ter of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion, Sen­a­tor Has­sel Bac­chus, was giv­en spe­cial pay­ments up­on his re­tire­ment from the com­pa­ny.

In an of­fi­cial state­ment is­sued last night, TSTT ac­cused the Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Work­ers Union of mak­ing “some patent­ly false al­le­ga­tions against the Board and man­age­ment of TSTT” which are “sim­ply un­found­ed”.

In its state­ment on the mat­ter, the com­pa­ny as­serts that no pref­er­en­tial treat­ment was giv­en to Min­is­ter Bac­chus, and any pay­ments made to him were in ac­cor­dance with stan­dard HR prac­tise.

TSTT said:

“TSTT treats all em­ploy­ee and HR-re­lat­ed mat­ters in the strictest con­fi­dence and there­fore will not dis­close any de­tails of a for­mer em­ploy­ee’s con­trac­tu­al arrange­ments in­clu­sive of pen­sion ben­e­fits, ir­re­spec­tive of the in­di­vid­ual’s po­si­tion or tenure.

How­ev­er, TSTT wish­es to state cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly that save for the trans­fer of a ve­hi­cle, no ex-gra­tia pay­ment was made to Sen­a­tor Has­sel Bac­chus on his de­par­ture from the or­ga­ni­za­tion.

TSTT can al­so con­firm that the process used to de­ter­mine Sen­a­tor Bac­chus’ pen­sion ben­e­fits, af­ter 31 years of ser­vice, was in full com­pli­ance with the pro­vi­sions of the Trust Deed and Rules of the req­ui­site pen­sion plan.

The cal­cu­la­tion and pay­ment of pen­sion ben­e­fits were ad­min­is­tered by the in­de­pen­dent Trustees of the Pen­sion Plan and as such no pay­ments were made di­rect­ly by the Com­pa­ny, nor was the Com­pa­ny in­volved in the com­pu­ta­tion.

Any spec­u­la­tion ques­tion­ing the in­tegri­ty of the process is sim­ply un­found­ed.”

In a Face­book live broad­cast on Fri­day, CWU Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al Clyde El­der al­leged that there was a pay­ment of more than $2 mil­lion and a month­ly pen­sion of $56,000 to now Min­is­ter of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion Sen­a­tor Has­sel Bac­chus, af­ter his res­ig­na­tion from TSTT.

El­der called for a full in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to what he says was pref­er­en­tial treat­ment af­ford­ed to Min­is­ter Bac­chus by the com­pa­ny, pri­or to his be­com­ing a Gov­ern­ment Sen­a­tor and Min­is­ter.

Business Governmenttrade unions


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Jesus Explosion 23: Visiting priest feeds RC faithful

18 hours ago
Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Israel Khan honoured by community cricket league

18 hours ago
SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa steps up Caricom collaboration after summit

Yesterday
Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Argentina wants to export world-famous beef to T&T

Yesterday