SXMElections.com

PHILIPSBURG--GEBE's Supervisory Board of Directors has contradicted statements made earlier this week by Alfred Harley of SXM Services Provider, the public relations company contracted under GEBE's recently-suspended Managing Director Romelio Maduro.

According to the Board, Harley made a "political" statement about the board being overpaid that was "incorrect and a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts" and Harley's company "severely overbilled" GEBE under Maduro's directorship.

Board payment

A press statement signed by Board Chairman Rene Richardson quoted Harley as saying in a June 29 article in The Daily Herald, "The MPs should question how one member of the Supervisory Board could receive $10,000 plus a stipend of $3,500 per month, while the whole board and the opposition bench in Parliament is ready to cripple a small local company providing work for local people."

In response, the Board said, "The simple fact of the matter is that the monthly allowance for all Supervisory Board Directors is gross NAf. 2,750 [$1,528 – Ed.] and the monthly allowance for the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors is gross NAf. 3,750 [$2,083 – Ed.]. These are, since N.V. GEBE is a 100 per cent government-owned company, matters of national/public record."

'Real issues'

Richardson said the board stood by its decisions, which were needed to safeguard the best interest of GEBE and its more than 250 local employees, in response to Harley claiming that the board was trying to "cripple a small local company providing work for local people."

The board called the statement "a fallacy and intended to divert the attention from the real issues at hand," these being "internal control (checks and balances) procedures within N.V. GEBE to protect against misuse of company funds have been violated; exorbitant claims for payment of amounts that exceed even the limit mentioned in an illegally contracted service-level agreement were made by SXM Services Provider to N.V. GEBE and directly paid by N.V. GEBE, as per mandates of Mr. R.A. Maduro; and the amounts invoiced by SXM Services Provider are severely disproportionate to the services rendered."

Doing business

Richardson asserts both that the contract between Maduro and Harley was illegal, and that even within the confines of the contract, Harley's company overcharged for services. In a follow-up phone call, when Richardson was asked about phrasing such as "alleged services rendered," he said he had not seen most of the projects Harley described as having delivered.

Richardson said in an invited comment that while he had seen the fuel clause article written by SXM Services Provider and had had some correspondence with Harley about that, he had not seen the other deliverables.

He said he had not seen even a draft of the GEBE commemoration which Harley's company was approached to complete and he did not know of the company's involvement in the strategic plan by KPMG. Furthermore, he said he had never even met Harley in person.

Overcharged

"By law and as per the articles of incorporation," the board "is obliged to supervise and advise N.V. GEBE in a complete independent manner. Part of its tasks is ensure that Management abides to the statutory limit of NAf. 50,000 for entering into service-level and other contracts on behalf of N.V. GEBE with third parties. ...

"This statutory condition was violated [by Maduro – Ed.] ... when entering into [this] service level agreement. ...

"The contractual limitation for the maximum monthly billable hours in the illegally contracted service level agreement ... was also severely violated; instead of billing the contractual limit of 140 hours at $75 per hour and thus a maximum amount of $10,500 per month for 'services' rendered, SXM Services Provider invoiced N.V. GEBE in four months on average $42,000 per month, thus in total $168,000. This is 1,680 billable hours more in four months than allowed."

Richardson further stated that the payments in these four months had been made "almost immediately" on delivery of the invoices, although GEBE's "prevailing policies ... stipulate that incoming invoices are all paid monthly, at the end of each month, thereby also allowing proper processing, scrutiny and control."

The board "was never asked and ... never agreed to any service-level agreement. ... Certainly not a service level agreement for a total monetary value of approximately $126,000." This number reflects the maximum allotted billable hours according to the contract, which would have been valid for 12 months.

As previously reported in this newspaper, the board has taken Maduro to court over his position at the company and cited "financial irregularities" as one of its reasons. An example given was the closing of the deal with SXM Services Provider, describing it as being worth $140,000. In an invited comment over the phone, Richardson said these were approximate values, but one and the same topic.

Harley previously told this newspaper that payments to his company had not added up to "anywhere near" $140,000, although he stated that four invoices had been paid without disclosing the amount.

In the article presenting Harley's side of the story, more focus was laid on some $68,000 that he said his company was still owed when the board "finally pressured Maduro into ending the contract." This would have been divided into three cheques, but only one was ever received, he said. A lawyer is trying to collect the other two.

As Harley allegedly was overcharging according to the contract, the board's media release stated that if the board had not stepped in, "the total damages for N.V. GEBE, at the rate that things were going, could have easily amounted to approximately $500,000" in those same 12 months. ... Harley never gave any reason and account to the Supervisory Board of Directors of N.V. GEBE pertaining to alleged services rendered to N.V. GEBE, or otherwise."

However, Harley had told this newspaper previously that some board members had been present at his interview, that they were aware of his appointment and had given feedback on his work. Some board members also were involved in the initial meetings with KPMG, he had said.

Richardson responded to this in an invited comment, saying that he had approved an article about the fuel clause written by Harley's company, but he had thought it was a one-off job and had not been aware of the contract.

The board stated that it "finds that there is a significant discrepancy between the paid invoices and magnitude of services that Mr. Alfred Harley and Mr. R.A. Maduro maintain that were rendered by SXM Services Provider to N.V. GEBE. Simply put: N.V. GEBE was severely overbilled by SXM Services Provider, to say this softly.

"The aforementioned discoveries constitute irregularities," the board concluded, adding that it was "both legally and morally obliged to act decisively to stop and prevent possible reoccurrence thereof."