Jodhan fires back at Angostura

ANGOSTURA CEO Genevieve Jodhan is fighting back, through her lawyer Michael Quamina, accusing the company and its board of “using the media to prosecute” her. She is also claiming a double standard against the way she has been treated during what should be a confidential investigation into improper procurement, compared to former chairman Rolph Balgobin while he was fending off sexual harassment claims from an employee. Jodhan had been asked by the board to “absent herself from the workplace,” while the board investigated her.

Balgobin had been accused of sexual harassment by a senior manager at the company but was allowed to remain on the job. Balgobin resigned as chairman earlier this year, but not related to the claims for which he was cleared.

These were just some of Jodhan’s complaints, listed in a letter drafted by Quamina, and sent to Angostura’s attorney, Douglas Mendes, SC. Newsday obtained a copy of the letter.

Quamina said his client was only first informed of the investigation at a meeting with the board, where they had asked her to “absent herself from Angostura while investigations are conducted,” while not providing “sufficient particulars” related to financial “irregularities.”

But Quamina’s main concern was the way the media has been covering the story and believes it should be scrutinised.

The first article referring to the investigation appeared in the Express on October 31, he said, claiming his client had been “put on administrative leave.”

“This information could only have been provided to the press by one or all the members of the board, who were present at the meeting,” Quamina said. Jodhan, he alleged, was “harangued by the press” in its wake, forcing her to release a statement that she was instead on “vacation leave.” Next, in a “sensational” press conference led by Angostura chairman Terrance Bharath on November 1, the company revealed the contracts were valued over $2.2 million, something Jodhan claimed to have then heard for the first time. And on November 4, Quamina claims the Sunday Guardian’s access to whistle-blower complaint “would make it irrefutable that the source of the information must be Angostura.”

“I wish to record on my client’s behalf the strongest possible objection to this matter being prosecuted in the media by your client,” Quamina said. He said Angostura’s request that Jodhan stay home has already caused her “serious, almost irreparable damage.”

“I ask (Angostura) to conduct this process quickly, fairly and confidentially, which will in turn permit my client to fully participate.”

Contacted for comment, Mendes said: “My relationship with my client is confidential. That’s all I have to say.”