The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Electricity Corporation Executive Chairman Leslie Miller last night denied accusations by Bahamas Electrical Workers Union President Paul Maynard that he had signed an engine maintenance contract without board approval and was a “consultant” for the firm in question.

The allegations are contained in a letter Mr Maynard sent to Labour and National Insurance Minister Shane Gibson on Tuesday.

In the letter, Mr Maynard also alleged that Mr Miller is using the controversial issue of overtime pay “as a smoke screen” for the “unethical things” that Mr Maynard claimed Mr Miller is doing at BEC.

When contacted about the claims in the letter, Mr Miller denied the allegations. He stressed that he did not sign a contract without board approval and is not a consultant for the company in question. He said he would instruct his lawyer to take legal action against Mr Maynard. He told The Tribune he had no knowledge of the claims and asked to see a copy of the letter before he would respond.

After receiving the letter, he said: “I’m sending this to my lawyer, Mr Anthony McKinney, to take action against Maynard for these scurrilous accusations sent to Mr Gibson.”

The union president wrote: “Mr Miller seems to be using the overtime situation as a smoke screen for the unethical things he is doing at the corporation in the capacity of a chairman.”

He said the union is aware that Mr Miller recently signed a contract with Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) to maintain BEC’s engines “without the board’s approval or knowledge.”

“The union is also aware that Mr Miller has the company BWSC lined up to do work for the company known as Power Secure if they are the ones selected to partner with the government in managing BEC,” Mr Maynard claimed. “Furthermore, the union is also aware that Mr Miller is a consultant for the company BWSC that is located in Denmark, but has been maintaining BEC’s engines at Clifton Pier for many years for the cost of $500,000 per engine to overhaul. However, when the employees (do) it on overtime, it only costs the corporation $150,000 per engine to overhaul. The only way to bring both figures down drastically is to change those outdated engines that continuously breaks down to gas turbines, which is more efficient and reliable. Mr Miller knows all of this because he did a thorough research on the overtime situation cost and what needs to be done to stop it or curb it to a minimum.” Mr Maynard alleged that Mr Miller was “being very deceitful to the government and the Bahamian public.”

Yesterday Mr Miller denied the allegations. He said Mr Maynard’s claims were not true, also the figure Mr Maynard claims BEC is paying BWSC to service its engines is “false.”

“Leslie Miller as chairman has signed absolutely no contract without the board’s notice,” the Tall Pines MP added. “We (have) a normal contract with BWEC to maintain the engines. We have it because the workers out at Clifton refuse to service them. It’s just a pure lack of maintenance and slackness at Clifton that caused us to hire this group. The best engines we ever had were the ones we purchased from BWEC.

“I am not a consultant to BWEC, don’t need to be a consultant,” Mr Miller added. “This president is a dangerous man. He obviously has a serious problem. And when it comes to overtime, Maynard should look in the mirror. He is one of the biggest abusers of overtime. His overtime is parallel to his salary and there is no truth to anything that he said.”

In the letter, Mr Maynard wrote that his union is putting the government on notice that it is fed up with Mr Miller and “will do whatever is necessary to protect our members and their livelihood.”

He also expressed concern about the leak of salary information of union members, suggesting that Mr Miller was behind the leaks that appeared on social media sites and in local newspapers recently.

“Last week social media had our members’ salaries all over the Internet and today it is in the Freeport News front page headline,” Mr Maynard wrote. “The information it contains is very personal and confidential and therefore in order to acquire it you have to go into employees’ personal files and salary history.”

Mr Maynard alleged that Mr Miller requested that the information be leaked. He added that the public disclosure of such information is endangering the lives of BEC employees. “In fact, since he started broadcasting employees’ salaries many of them were robbed on and off the job and are being harassed daily by the public in a nasty negative way.”

He added: “The union refuses to sit by idly and watch our members be attacked and victimised by the chairman of BEC for his own personal gain. At this point, we are now forced to do whatever it takes to secure our livelihood and to make sure bread is not taken out of any of our members’ mouths.”

This marks the latest conflict in the pair’s long-running feud over matters related to BEC.