Latest update February 16th, 2025 7:47 AM
Mar 25, 2009 News
… Karan Singh sent on leave pending probe
Having returned from his annual vacation two days ago, Chief Executive of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Karan Singh, has again been sent off on leave, except this time at the request of the GWI Board of Directors.
According to Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, under whose purview the water company falls, the Board of Directors met yesterday afternoon regarding allegations of mismanagement directed at Singh.
He said that the Board has commenced investigations into the allegations and thought it was best for Singh to be absent from duty to speed up the process.
A release to this effect was subsequently issued by the Board of Directors around 17:40 hours.
Reports are that plans to take action against the GWI boss was engaged after the entity’s Board of Directors met at an emergency meeting Monday evening.
According to the Chief Executive during an interview with this newspaper yesterday, he is not guilty of any wrongdoing and therefore has been willing to proceed on leave to allow for a fully transparent investigation.
Reflecting on how he became aware that there was a problem within the entity, Singh said that he returned to work only to be informed by the Board that there is a report that indicated that he had breached the procedure of the company.
Singh related that he was made to understand that the breach was serious enough for him to be sent on additional leave.
“I believe that it is a right thing to facilitate an investigation and I will cooperate because I have done nothing and so I have nothing to fear. I have not breached procedures to warrant such action but the Board is my senior so I will comply.”
The disturbing state-of-affairs came to light after it was discovered that Head of Procurement of the water company, Dhani Narine, had for some time been involved in a scam over the issuance of contracts.
Narine has since been sent on leave following allegations of corruption. There are allegations that over a period of time he has been making deals to receive ‘drawbacks’ from contractors employed by the water entity.
A source close to the entity revealed last week that Narine would allegedly demand that contractors advance him specified sums of money from the contracted sum before they were guaranteed the contract.
The source related that the contractors became aggravated and, as a result, decided to lodge an official complaint with senior officials of the entity.
It was at this juncture that the Board became involved and recommended that Narine be sent on leave to allow the facilitation of a proper and unbiased investigation.
However, investigations revealed that Narine was not alone in his decadent practices but was rather aided and abetted by high ranking official(s) within the very entity.
When questioned on whether he had knowledge about the actions of Narine, Singh said that he was informed to some extent on an informal basis but was surprised when he learnt of the extent of the activities.
“I was not aware of the details of what he is accused…I have managed GWI with the best of my knowledge and I am proud that I have done so without compromising the operations and there is no way that I could be found guilty of wrong doing because another officer has been implicated in such activities,” Singh insisted.
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