CEPEP Thread

[zuluwarrior]

Another conflict issue shows up with member of Govt

Darryl Heeralal dheeralal@trinidadexpress.com


Sunday, March 22nd 2009
 
 
 A NEW conflict of interest issue has emerged around yet another member of the Manning administration.

Ni Leung Hypolite, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Works who held the CEPEP portfolio until the recent reshuffle, himself owns a company which has been awarded to one of the larger CEPEP contracts. Hypolite and his wife, Lisa, are the owners of Hylite Services Ltd which has been operating the contract for several years.

Hypolite was also a director of the company but resigned on October 15, 2007, shortly before last November's general election when he was elected MP for Laventille West. His wife resigned as a director on November 23, 2007, shortly after the general election.

Their resignations are reported in the company's annual returns to the Registrar General's department. The documents filed by Hylite Services, however, show no evidence of Hypolite having divested himself of any shareholding in the company.

The Sunday Express has learnt that Hylite Services was awarded what is described in CEPEP terms as a "high end contract".

Contracts in this range are said to earn around $468,000 a year, based on fortnightly payments of $18,000 which go directly to the contractor. Payment to CEPEP workers, said to be around 60 in the case of Hylite Services, is a direct transaction between Cepep Company Ltd and workers.

Hylite's contract is for works done in the Laventille West constituency, which Hypolite represents in Parliament as MP for the area. The company's Articles of Incorporation state that Hylite Services Ltd has a maximum number of 50,000 common shares.

Contacted for comment on his involvement in the company, Hypolite told the Sunday Express:

"It is public knowledge that before the elections I gave up my CEPEP contract. It was at the pleasure of the Prime Minister to appoint me Parliamentary Secretary."

In a follow-up telephone interview, Hypolite explained that what he had given up was his directorship of Hylite.

Questioned about a possible conflict of interest in holding the CEPEP portfolio while he remained a shareholder in a company operating a CEPEP contract, Hypolite said he had "no statements to make on that" and repeated his previous position.

Hypolite's line minister, Colm Imbert, who holds the Works and Transport portfolio, declined comment on the matter, referring all questions to Hypolite.

Hylite was among the first companies to get a CEPEP contract when the programme began in the second half of 2002. In its early years, CEPEP was managed by the Solid Waste Management Company Ltd (SWMCOL) which fell under the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment, headed by Penelope Beckles.

In the run-up to the 2007 general elections CEPEP came under Opposition criticism when it was publicised that Beckles' father was a CEPEP contractor.

After the elections, ministerial responsibility for SWMCOL was re-assigned to Housing, Planning and Environment.

Last year, CEPEP Company Ltd assumed management of the programme and the newly-formed company was given to Hypolite and the Works Ministry.

Two weeks ago, Hypolite was relieved of his CEPEP responsibility by Prime Minister Patrick Manning who transferred it to Mariano Browne in the Finance Ministry
 

[truetrini]

Hypolite was also a director of the company but resigned on October 15, 2007, shortly before last November's general election when he was elected MP for Laventille West. His wife resigned as a director on November 23, 2007, shortly after the general election.

Two weeks ago, Hypolite was relieved of his CEPEP responsibility by Prime Minister Patrick Manning who transferred it to Mariano Browne in the Finance Ministry

"It is public knowledge that before the elections I gave up my CEPEP contract. It was at the pleasure of the Prime Minister to appoint me Parliamentary Secretary."

[Flex]

Money flowing at CEPEP
By Curtis Williams
Lead Editor Business

Amid a financial crisis facing T&T comes revelation that the Board of Directors of state-owned CEPEP has raised the salary of the company’s Chief Executive Officer Keith Eddy to a whopping $65,000 a month and weeks before the August 10 general elections, changed his contract, to add a year to it.

These are some of the revelations in a series of documents provided to Guardian Media by whistleblowers in CEPEP and the Ministry of Finance that point to not only massive increases in some staff salaries, but also a pattern of re-doing contracts for some employees just as the general election approaches.

In a memorandum dated November 28, 2019 CEPEP’s Corporate Secretary Nicole Gopaulsingh wrote to the company’s Senior Human Resource Officer Willa Guy-Straker indicating that at a meeting of the Board of Directors held on November 28, 2019, it was “resolved to amend the organisational structure”.

As part of the amendment of the structure, the decision was made to change Eddy’s title from General Manager to CEO and with it a change of salary from a base of $40,000 a month to $61,500 a month and an entertainment allowance from $2,500 to $3,500 a month for a total package of $65,000 from a previous package of $42,500.

CEPEP is also leasing a luxury Q7 vehicle for Eddy. It is fully maintained by the company. His package also includes a telephone.

In the same memorandum, the Corporate Secretary advised that she too had gotten a raise of salary from $22,500 to $40,000 a month.

Guardian Media contacted Eddy but he refused to comment, instead suggesting that we speak to the chairman of the company.

Guardian Media has copies of the signed contracts of both Eddy and Gopaulsingh even though the company’s chairman Marilyn Michael denied knowledge of the new salaries.

Michael was chairman at the time the decision was made to increase the salaries.

In a recorded telephone interview she told Guardian Media: “Under my stewardship Mr Eddy has not gotten an increase in salary.”

When told that we had copies of Mr Eddy’s signed new contract, the CEPEP chairman pivoted and said: “That is when a proposal came forward. That has not been recommended or gone anywhere further than that.That’s a proposal and anything is possible. People can propose anything.”

Asked if she was saying that the corporate Secretary then misled the HR department in writing to them indicating the changes in salary for herself and Mr Eddy and if so what would be done about it, CEPEP’s chairman said: “Maybe that was a recommendation or a proposal...however that has not gone anywhere. Mr Eddy’s salary has not been increased. I stand here in a very positive way, well informed, this is not me speculating or saying maybe or maybe not. I am speaking from an informative position that Mr Eddy’s salary has not been increased.”

Asked if all the documents in Guardian Media’s possession were fake she said: “You don’t have to put that. You can simply say the chairman is not aware of any increases.”

Michael said the salaries could not possibly have been increased and she did not know. She called it mischief and said somebody had an objective or an aim and was not inclined to continue the conversations. She also advised that the story not be published since according to her it would be laughed at.

When it was pointed out that the article would be published and that the documents were also available for public scrutiny, she said:”I am not aware of any increase for Mr Eddy. I know that was a conversation but it has not gone anywhere in the light of being approved, even though I want to say to you that a board can make a recommendation but it doesn’t mean, I am not saying a recommendation was or was not made, I am saying it does not mean that it is an approved recommendation it has to go as you would rightly know to the line ministry and also to Ministry of Finance.The board does not have that authorisation to just increase somebody’s salary.”

When it was pointed out that Mr Eddy was already in receipt of his adjusted salary, the chairman of CEPEP said: “Maybe give me some time to investigate that.”

Michael then said she was in the middle of doing something and could not prolong the conversation.

“Please remember in all fairness to the chairman that you should say that I said I don’t know anything about what you are talking about and I would have to investigate it.”

Guardian Media reached out to the line Minister Kazim Hosein but although we called his phone on six occasions and sent him a WhatsApp message, there was no response.

Since Hosein took over responsibility for CEPEP there have been four chairmen in four years with Michael being the latest.

During that time, there has been a revolving door of managers at the organisation and hundreds of thousands of dollars paid out to employees due to how they were treated and dismissed. The daughter of a former PNM minister was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars after she was allegedly hounded out of CEPEP.

Guardian Media also has a dossier that was sent to Finance Minister Colm Imbert on October 29, 2019, in which there are major allegations against Hosein, including interference in the running of the company.

The report also has a legal opinion which concludes that Hosein’s alleged interference was preventing the board from optimally using the resources of CEPEP.

The legal opinion reads: “The direct intervention by the line minister in the affairs of state enterprise in a manner that fetters the discretion of the Board of Directors is tantamount to making the line minister a de facto or shadow director and may be construed as a unanimous shareholder agreement pursuant to section 137 (2) of the Companies Act as the line minister is clothed with the ostensible authority of Corporation Sole and as such, such direct intervention ought to relieve the Board of Directors from liability for the line minister’s actions if not addressed.”

Hosein has in the past denied interfering in the running of CEPEP even though Guardian Media was able to point him to a meeting he had with the management of the company without any of the directors present at Soongs Great Wall in San Fernando. At that time Hosein said it was a coincidental encounter since he was there for a meeting and the management team was having lunch. CEPEP was billed for the cost of the lunch.

Weeks before the general election, Eddy signed off on the extension of several contracts. Many of them were not even coming to an end this year but with the election due it appears a decision was made to extend contracts should the August 10 polls not have gone the way of the PNM. This is a practice Dr Rowley and the PNM railed against when it was done in 2015 by the UNC.

Over the last five years the country has spent more than a billion dollars supporting CEPEP.

[Flex]

CEPEP probes $.22m payout to 2 execs.
By Curtis Williams (Guardian).

An internal investigation has been launched at the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) to determine how payment of almost a quarter-million dollars was made to the Chief Executive Officer Keith Eddy and Corporate Secretary Nicole Gopaulsingh on August 14, 2020.

The payments of $135,000 to Eddy and $92,935.31 to Gopaulsingh were made to their accounts four days after the August 10 General Election.

Guardian Media has copies of the transactions and the figures represent the major increases in salaries for the two that were approved by the CEPEP board in 2019 but only paid in August, 2020.

The records show that Eddy was paid $180,000, representing increments of $21,500 per month for eight months of increased base salary and $8,000 for the eight months of increased entertainment allowance. However, when 25 per cent in taxes were deducted the sum of $135,000 was forwarded to his bank account. Similarly, Gopaulsingh received eight months of increments and increased allowances minus taxes that worked out to $92,935.31.

Both Eddy and Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein spoke to Guardian Media yesterday but were not prepared to go on the record. However, sources at the company claim the payments have since been reversed.

The documents showing the payments come even as CEPEP chairman Marilyn Michael categorically denied any payment was made to the duo or that Eddy had even received a salary increase.

On Saturday, Michael said, “Mr Eddy’s salary has not been increased. I stand here in a very positive way, well informed, this is not me speculating or saying maybe or maybe not. I am speaking from an informative position that Mr Eddy’s salary has not been increased.”

Asked if all the documents in Guardian Media’s possession were fake, she said: “You don’t have to put that. You can simply say the chairman is not aware of any increases.”

Michael said the salaries could not possibly have been increased and she did not know of it. She called it “mischief,” adding somebody had an objective.”

“I am not aware of any increase for Mr Eddy. I know that was a conversation but it has not gone anywhere in the light of being approved, even though I want to say to you that a board can make a recommendation but it doesn’t mean, I am not saying a recommendation was or was not made, I am saying it does not mean that it is an approved recommendation, it has to go, as you would rightly know, to the line ministry and also to Ministry of Finance. The board does not have that authorisation to just increase somebody’s salary,” Michael said.

On Sunday, however, CEPEP put out a press release in which it effectively refuted what its chairman said by confirming that the board, which is chaired by Michael, had in fact approved the increases for Eddy and Gopaulsingh.

The release read: “The CEPEP board of directors approved salary increases in November of the year 2019 and is currently awaiting the approval of the HR committee and the Chief Personnel Officer.”

In November, the CEPEP board agreed to raise Eddy’s salary to a whopping $65,000 a month and weeks before the August 10 election, changed his contract to add a year to it.

Documents provided to Guardian Media by whistleblowers in CEPEP and the Ministry of Finance point to both increases in salaries and redoing contracts for some employees just as the August 10 election approached.

In a memorandum dated November 28, 2019, CEPEP Corporate Secretary Gopaulsingh wrote to the company’s Senior Human Resource Officer Willa Guy-Straker indicating that at a meeting of the board on November 28, 2019, it was “resolved to amend the organisational structure.”

As part of the amendment of the structure, the decision was made to change Eddy’s title from general manager to CEO and to a change of salary from a base of $40,000 a month to $61,500 a month and entertainment allowance from $2,500 to $3,500 a month for a total package of $65,000 from a previous package of $42,500. CEPEP is also leasing a luxury Q7 vehicle for Eddy to be fully maintained by the company. His package also includes a telephone.

In the same memorandum, Gopaulsingh advised that she too had received a salary increase from $22,500 to $40,000 a month. Guardian Media has copies of the signed contracts.

Since Hosein took over responsibility for CEPEP there have been four chairmen in four years, with Michael being the latest.

During that time, there has been a revolving door of managers at the organisation and hundreds of thousands of dollars paid out to employees following litigation over how they were treated and dismissed. The daughter of a former People’s National Movement (PNM) minister was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars after she was allegedly hounded out of CEPEP.

Guardian Media also has a dossier that was sent to Finance Minister Colm Imbert on October 29, 2019, in which there are major allegations against Hosein, including interference in the running of the company. It is understood those allegations were found to have no merit in them.

Weeks before the General Election, Eddy signed off on the extension of several contracts. Many of them were not even coming to an end this year but with the election due it appears a decision was made to extend contracts should the August 10 polls not have gone the way of the PNM. This is a practice Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and the PNM railed against when it was done in 2015 by the United National Congress.

Over the last five years, the country has spent more than a billion dollars supporting CEPEP.

[Flex]

CEPEP changes made just before general election
By Curtis Williams (Guardian).

Contracts for Everyone

State-owned Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) Company Limited has renewed contracts “across the board” for employees because of the COVID 19 pandemic.

On September 14 the company, through its lawyers Hove and Associates, responded to several questions posed by Guardian Media about the renewal of contracts, just before the general elections, for CEPEP workers .

The company said: “The CEPEP Company took a decision to amend contracts in the interest of business continuity and in light of the COVID 19 pandemic . . . contracts were renewed “across the board”

This is at variance with the information which shows that only certain people had their contracts amended, among them Chief Executive Officer Keith Eddy.

In the days leading up to the August 10 general election, there was a scramble at CEPEP to sign the contracts of several employees to ensure they would have jobs at the company until at least 2023. If the government had changed and wanted to get rid of them, they would have been saddled with employees who had at least three years left on their contracts.

A Sunday Guardian investigation shows a pattern of not just renewal of contracts but changes in contracts that led to some people whose tenure would have ended next year getting extensions to 2023 and others that ended in 2022 being extended to 2023.

All of these contracts were signed days before the election by Eddy who was himself the beneficiary of two contract changes. In Eddy’s case, it was a change in designation from General Manager to Chief Executive Officer and an increase in his salary of more than $20,000.

For some of the more junior staff, it was an addition of at least a year to their contracts and in one case a change in the terms of their contract, with CEPEP providing a company car and a telephone for an employee in lieu of a travelling and telephone allowance.

Last Saturday CEPEP went to court seeking to block the further publication of the investigation into the company’s operations and got an interim order preventing the publication of this and other stories. On Thursday Justice Kevin Ramcharan removed the injunction as it pertains to the publication of the stories saying it was, prima facie in the public interest.

Eddy and Gopaulsingh, in their respective affidavits filed in the High Court, deny all allegations of wrongdoing.

CEPEP was asked the following questions:

Are four-year and five-year contracts the norm in CEPEPE

It said: “There are instances of four-year contracts and we are not aware of any five-year contracts.”

The company was also asked: Did it have anything to do with the impending general election?

CEPEP through its lawyers responded by saying: “In keeping with your intent to find a scandal within the CEPEP Company unfortunately for you, the contracts had nothing to do with the impending general election.

“Please note that owing to these present High Court proceedings and the Claims filed against the Guardian Media Limited and yourself, in particular defamation, misuse of private information

and unlawful means conspiracy, coupled with the fact that our client has made a formal complaint to the police concerning the unlawful conspiracy, we have instructed our clients to not respond to any further questions from your media house and/or its servants or agents pending the determination of these matters. “

Guardian Media has copies of all the contracts in question, including Eddy’s and can also say that while CEPEP may not be aware of any claim of anyone being given a five-year contract we have in our possession at least one such contract.

On December 2, 2019, Eddy had his contract amended to change his designation from General Manager to CEO. This change of contract came four days after a memorandum was sent to the Senior Human Resource Officer from Corporate Secretary Nicole Gopaulsingh, under the caption Approval of Amended Job description and compensation packages—General Manager/CEO and Corporate Secretary/Head Legal, advising that the board chaired by Marilyn Michael had resolved to change Eddy’s position and to significantly increase her salary and Eddy’s.

On July 10 Eddy’s contract was again amended. This time he was given an additional year moving the end of contract date from June 10, 2022, to June 10, 2023, lengthening his contracted period from three to four years. The amended contract covers a remuneration package of $65,000 a month, up from just over $42,000 a month.

A month after that contract was signed, $135,000 was deposited in Eddy’s account by CEPEP reflecting the retroactive salary to December 2019, minus the taxes but the Chairman of CEPEP has said that was an accounting error.

In a press release on September 8, chairman Marilyn Michael claimed an accounting error led to the payment of almost a quarter-million dollars to Eddy and Gopaulsingh on August 14.

Michael said the error was recognised on August 19 and subsequently corrected on September 1.

The payments of $135,000 to Eddy and $92,935.31 to Gopaulsingh were made to their accounts four days after the August 10 general election, Guardian Media exclusively reported on September 6.

Guardian Media has copies of the transactions and the figures represent major increases in salaries for the two that were approved by the CEPEP board in 2019 but only paid in August.

The records show that Eddy was paid $180,000, representing increments of $21,500 per month for eight months of increased base salary and $8,000 for the eight months of increased entertainment allowance. However, when 25 per cent in taxes were deducted, the sum of $135,000 was forwarded to his bank account. Similarly, Gopaulsingh received eight months of increments and increased allowances minus taxes that worked out to $92,935.31. However, the CEPEP press release insists that the payments were subsequently reversed.

In a sworn affidavit Michael said: “I wish to state that although the salary increases were approved by the Board of Directors they have not benefited from same as we are awaiting an opinion from learned senior counsel regarding whether or not further approval is required by Cabinet.”

This appears to be different from CEPEP’s press release which claimed the company was awaiting word from the Chief Personnel Officer and the Cabinet HR committee before paying the approved salaries to Eddy or Gopaulsingh.

Former CEPEP chairman Ashton Ford had raised concerns about the hiring and firing process at the company early last year. In board minutes which Guardian Media has copies of, Ford said: “As Chairman of the Board I have not been given access to the contracts of the engaged personnel, especially, the appointed Heads of Department. The Board has only been informed of these appointments through copies of memoranda issued by the Senior Human Resource Officer and addressed to the General Manager, which are then passed onto the Human Resource Committee of the Board.”

He insisted: “I am compelled to submit this statement because of information reaching me that certain management decisions may result in litigation against the CEPEP Company Limited.”

Ford’s concerns were conveyed in a document he sent to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance on October 29, 2019, in which he detailed reasons for his resignation from the Board of Directors. Among the reasons he gave were how senior staff is hired, a lack of recognition by the management of the authority of the board and its relationship with the management and interference from the line Minister Kazim Hosein.

Hosein has repeatedly denied that he has been interfering in the operations of CEPEP and acknowledged that he was aware of Ford’s allegations but rubbished them. He insisted that his hands are clean telling Guardian Media he is a simple man and would never be part of anything close to corruption.