By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

AFTER three employees were fired from Bahamas Power and Light on Wednesday in connection with a probe into a $2m theft, a senior official at the utility provider has warned that more firings are on the way as the investigation continues and will include those who are “higher up” in the company if found culpable.

The statement from BPL Chairwoman Darnell Osbourne came hours after the Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEWU) spoke out in protest over the firings of the three employees.

BEWU Secretary General Astrid Bodie, in an interview with The Tribune outside of the company’s Blue Hill Road headquarters, demanded clarification on the process that had led to the firings, alleging yesterday that managers who should be held accountable were allowed to return to work Tuesday, while all junior employees under investigation were terminated.

Both the government and the BPL board have received copies of an audit conducted by Ernst and Young into the discovery of a five-month long scheme, which involved approximately 44 cheques paid out to 16 vendors from December 16, 2016 to May 9, 2017.

The workers, all from one department, were suspended on May 15.

Ms Osbourne confirmed yesterday that more than $2m was missing as a result of the scheme.

She said the company takes the matter surrounding the missing funds very seriously and intends to “go through the necessary channels” to reclaim all money lost, adding that BPL will “follow up” with police to “ensure justice and guard against similar actions in the future.”

BEWU officials said yesterday that they have not been officially presented with a copy of the findings, and have been left to put the pieces together with “the little things” disclosed in letters given to the terminated employees.

“Today, all the managers involved have returned to work. Three managers involved . . . they are back at work today and we are (left) awaiting the fate of our members,” Mrs Bodie said.

She maintained the employees terminated were acting under directives and never carried out a transaction that was not sanctioned, approved, signed-off and finalised by management at BPL.

According staff at the company, employees in the department in question are required to, with any transaction, process claims under the guidance of senior personnel. This means that all transactions would have to go through an authorisation process, checked and approved by a manager, further processed by the employees and then finally signed off by that supervising manager.

Furthermore, all cheques used would have had to have been made out to a vendor recognised and sanctioned by BPL, and if any issues are raised, the audit department would step in, it was claimed.

To this end, Mrs Bodie said the scheme was fostered through blatant mismanagement and errors on the part of general workers and management alike.

“There were 44 cheques cut fraudulently for 16 different companies,” she told The Tribune.

“(They) were instructed and did exactly that. They didn’t come up with these transactions and made these arrangements, they were instructed by their bosses,” she claimed.

“But today, these employees, now former, are being (brought) out as if they were the minds and muscle behind this well-thought out scheme,” the union representative said.

“This is wrong. This is awful. There is no way this should happen like this. No, the union isn’t condoning theft in any way, our point is don’t railroad the employees in a scheme created and carried out by persons in management and give the impression that only they were a part of it.”

Yesterday, Ms Osbourne called on union officials to exercise patience as the investigation continues.

“The public should know that this investigation is not completed as yet,” she said in a statement sent to The Tribune.

“Over the ensuing weeks based on the evidence there will be further terminations as management properly considers the evidence gathered. 

“Persons terminated today are not the only ones involved in the scheme. Any individuals who may be higher up in the organisation and found to be culpable will also be terminated. 

“The employees’ union should have confidence in management and the board that everyone who actively conspired to defraud BPL will be terminated, irrespective of who they are,” the chairwoman said.

“The union should be encouraged to exercise patience and await the full implementation of the investigative report.” 

Aftermath

In a tearful interview Wednesday, one of the terminated employees who agreed to speak with The Tribune if kept anonymous, said she was left devastated by the ordeal.

The employee said she couldn’t put into words how she could be “used” and “thrown to the side” after more than five years with the company, for doing things she “did every day.”

“This is something I can’t explain or even put into words because it’s still hard for me to understand. School is opening in a couple of weeks and I am out of a job because, according to this letter, there is suspicion that I was involved in (a) fraudulent scheme.”

With tears in her eyes she added: “I did what I was told; nothing new, nothing strange. The same thing I did every day; I was here. I checked off what I need to check off and I followed all the guidelines as presented to me on day one. Now today, I am being pushed out with my name tied to theft and fraud.

“One cheque. I was tied to one cheque that I saw no issues with. I was told put together the invoice left on the desk of a temporary employee and put it in for vetting. I did that,” she told this newspaper.

“Now I am left to deal with this. I am a single mother. I have to get my kids ready for school. I have so much to do and now this. There is no way to put how I feel into words,” she said.

Police in May announced that an investigation was launched into the alleged theft of a large amount of money at BPL.

In the months since, the scope of the scheme has been uncovered to be larger and costlier than initially suspected.

Officials have said it is likely people will be prosecuted in relation to the investigation.  

When contacted this week for comment on audit report’s findings, Works Minister Desmond Bannister promised that the government will be “fully transparent” with the information presented once it is reviewed.

In May, BEWU President Paul Maynard contended “there will be hell to pay,” if his union members remained on suspension while managers at the power company “go unscathed”.

At the time, he insisted employees were being accused of sending in invoices from fake companies, getting a cheque for the amount and then using someone in a local bank to cash the cheques.

Mr Maynard added then that the scheme was “elaborate” and could not work if only junior staff were involved.