TSTT criticised over Massy Communications acquisition

UPDATED:

The Public Utilities Ministry and the Telecommunications Services of TT (TSTT) have both been criticised for failing to adhere to their responsibilities as set out in the State Enterprises Performance Monitoring Manual.

The criticism comes from Chairman of the Public Accounts (Enterprises) Committee (PAEC) Wade Mark, during a press conference in the Parliament building on Tuesday on the findings of four reports of the committee. Referring to TSTT’s $255 million purchase of Massy Communications in May of last year, Mark alleged the deal was was done without prior Cabinet approval.

This, he said, “Is contrary to Section 2.2 of the manual and we made a strong recommendation to the Parliament that the Ministry of Public Utilities, as line ministry, should be aware of its role in the acquisition of major investments...In addition, going forward the line ministry should ensure that all major investments are approved before any large investments are made.”

Last December the company was rebranded by TSTT as Amplia Communications. Mark also criticised TSTT for not being more accountable to Parliament via its appearance before the PAEC. “We made it very clear that we wanted to get clarification on the due diligence conducted by TSTT (but) the company’s official expressed an unwillingness to respond to the questions posed.”

Mark said although TSTT “subsequently agreed to submit the responses in writing, (they) were vague and lacked pertinent information.”

The PAEC therefore recommended that the Finance Ministry, as corporation sole, must ensure that anyone appointed to serve on state enterprise boards “be made aware of their responsibilities to account to Parliament for public funds.”

Earlier in the press conference, Mark lamented that late submission of audited financial statements to Parliament, the lack of approved strategic plans and lack of effective oversight and supervision by line ministries and the Finance Ministry’s Investments Division were all “major trends” across state enterprises.

Regarding the latter, Mark said the PAEC recommended the line ministries and the Investments Division “exercise strong oversight functions through collaboration and liaison” with state enterprises.

In addition they are to “provide the committee with details of the progress in identifying and addressing the weakness of respective state enterprises under (their) purview, commencing January 30, 2018 (and) they should hold discussions with all state enterprises semi-annually to assess the progress made and the way forward,” Mark stated.