Central Bank Governor knocks Alleyne’s letter

October 2, 2003
Mr Hubert Alleyne
Chairman
Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation
UTC Financial Centre
Independence Square
Port-of-Spain.

Dear Mr Alleyne
I have just returned to office after two and a half weeks, and acknowledge receipt of your letter of September 18, 2003 regarding the Special Meeting of the Board of the Unit Trust Corporation held on September 5, 2003. I fully agree that the matter for which the Special Meeting was called was an important one and I think that it was unfortunate that our representative did not call to inform you that he could not attend the meeting. I was rather taken aback by the tone of your letter and particularly your insinuation that the absence of the Central Bank Director was a serious dereliction of duty on my part. I take particular offence at the last paragraph of your letter, which says that “(your) Board considers what occurred on September 5, 2003 to be a dangerous precedent and has instructed (you) to express (to me) its hope that in the public interest there will be no repetition of it.”

You may recall that in the month or so leading up to August 31, 2003 (the termination date of the Executive Director’s contract) I went out of my way to arrange meetings between yourself, Minister Enill and myself, in an effort to ensure a satisfactory resolution of the leadership issue. Even as these proved to be inconclusive, I really hoped that the issues involved were sensitive and urgent enough to warrant further continued discussion between you and me right up to August 31, 2003, to see if we could arrive at a solution that was acceptable to all the parties involved. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet as this is what transpired:
i. I tried to get you by telephone on at least three occasions, beginning August 22, 2003. We left at least one message at your home (your wife returned the call) and at least one on your cell. We never received any reply from you.
ii. I sent a letter delivered “by hand” on August 27, 2003. I expected to receive  an immediate reply given the sensitivity and urgency of the issues discussed therein. The letter was never acknowledged until September 5, 2003, about a week after the Executive Director’s contract ended.
iii. I am advised that you left word with your secretary to contact the Board members on August 29, 2003 to inform them of your decision with regard to the management of the UTC as from September 1, 2003.
Obviously, the decision was taken without the courtesy of considering my letter of August 27, 2003, which remained unopened on your desk.
iv. You contacted me by telephone on September 5, 2003 whilst you were in your Board meeting. You put me on the speaker phone, for the benefit of your Board, and invited me to come over to the meeting at that moment to hear your response to my letter. Of course I declined the invitation.

I consider the above actions to be very disrespectful to me and to the office of the Governor which, according to the Unit Trust Act, has a legitimate and very important role in the appointment of the Executive Director and the Chairman of the Board.  I am satisfied that I, as Governor, and the Central Bank, have treated the matter of the appointment of the Executive Director with all the seriousness that it deserves, taking into account the best interest of the Corporation and its unitholders.  You can be assured that we will continue to do so.

Yours sincerely
Ewart S Williams