THE Board of Directors of Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) is quietly moving to appoint senior executives while an enquiry into last October’s cyber-attack scandal is still incomplete.
TSTT’s Board has hired the human resources firm of HRC Consulting Associates to employ a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Applicants have only until March 11.
Swift moves are being taken to fill the posts despite stinging condemnation of the Board’s handling of the extensive cyber breach and other major administrative and financial matters.
An independent enquiry into the cyber-attack, launched by Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales, is still underway.
Axed CEO Lisa Agard and fired CFO Shiva Ramnarine made sweeping allegations at a recent sitting of a parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC).
They claimed irregularities by the Board, including a request for confidential account information, financial impropriety, and poor communications after the cyber crime.
Agard told the JSC that the board misrepresented certain vital information.
She said she had to “literally beg the chairman and board of TSTT to be allowed to communicate with the public after November 6, since by that date I was mandated to get prior approval of the chairman of the board before anything was allowed to go publicly.”
She slammed the board for not implementing a communications plan.
She stated that she asked to meet Chairman Sean Roach on November 14, but, instead, was given a letter of dismissal.
The company did not meet “basic industrial relations practice” in terminating her services, Agard said.
She disputed the claim that there was a lack of action from her to the cyber assault.
Ramnarine told the JSC that he and Agard were fired after financially turning around the telecommunications company.
He claimed incompetence, nepotism and corruption at TSTT.
He stated that he and Agard were undermined by the board when they moved to cut vendors’ costs to move the company from its annual loss-making position.
Ramnarine said: “A company is returned to profitability against all odds, and the architects are terminated.”
He asked: “Could it be that the elevation of poor-performance individuals paved the way for a feeding frenzy for board members, vendors and staff?”
The startling revelations by Agard and Ramnarine led to calls for a full explanation from the board of directors.
Some commentators said that Roach must indicate whether he requested confidential information, as claimed by Agard.
Failure to do so would create an even greater loss of public trust in TSTT, critics said.
There have also been pleas for the board to state whether it tampered in the process to reduce vendors’ charges.
But the Roach-led board has not responded to the accusations by Agard and Ramnarine nor has it provided a comprehensive account of the cyber-attack to its customers.
And now the directors are hurriedly moving to recruit replacements for its two sacked senior executives.
Detailed job specifications are listed for both posts.
Other TSTT directors are Wendell Berkley, Nicole de Freitas, Howard Dottin, Annalean Inniss, Ingrid Lashley, and Judith Sobion.
In its most recent financial year, ending March 31, 2023, the company reported a profit of $95.2 million, ending a sequence of losses since 2017.
