NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Former Bahamas Power and Light Executive Chairperson Darnell Osborne said she suffered “distress and significant damage” to her professional reputation due to the escalating conflict between herself and former Minister of Works Desmond Bannister that ultimately led to her 2018 dismissal.
The latest witness statement in Osborne’s wrongful dismissal suit against the government was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Osborne was appointed chairperson in July 2017.
In her witness statement, Osborne said her tenure began without incident until about May 2018 when she claimed Bannister began to question her about issues related to Shell; the then-CEO’s authority to hire and fire executive employees with board approval; and other critical matters related to the corporation.
She noted that at a BPL board meeting on May 18, 2018 then CEO Whitney Heastie maintained that he retained the power to hire and fire executive employees without board approval.
According to Osborne, she along with other board members disagreed and as a result of differing stances, she requested a legal opinion from BPL’s external counsel.
That advice, from Oscar Johnson, QC, was that the board had that authority.
But he later recanted his position after “he gave indications that he had spoken with Minister Bannister or one of his allies”.
Osborne noted that Bannister appointed Patrick Rollins as executive director in July 2018 and provided a job description for him and the CEO, which, she said in effect, unilaterally varied her contract by reducing her role to an ambassadorial one.
Osborne said another meeting was held on August 2, 2018, the minister explained he had specifically designed the CEO’s job description to ensure his exclusive control over the BPL and that he was “upset that I and board members would waste money on fees to engage external counsel to get an opinion” on whether the CEO’s authority exceeded the board and on the Shell matter.
She contended that in defense of the board, she expressed that sound corporate governance mandated the board to exercise an independent business judgment based on technical and legal advice in complex matters.
“In response, Minister Bannister threatened to demand my resignation or terminate me if I did not change my position,” read the witness statement.
Osborne claimed Bannister summoned her to his office on August 3, 2018 and criticized her leadership style, and a subsequent meeting was held with then Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis to discuss the concerns at BPL.
She alleged that at the conclusion of the meeting, Minnis told her to “stay put at BPL”.
However, Osborne claimed Bannister demanded her resignation at an August 14, 2018, board meeting, and allegedly threatened to remove her from the board of BPL by informing her and the then director, Nicola Thompson, that he had met with the prime minister and he and the prime minister were “unhappy with the way the board was functioning”.
Osborne said she did not resign nor did she ever submit a written resignation, adding that she never received any notice of any meeting of BPL or BEC to remove her or other board members from their posts.
But the former BPL chair said she learned that Bannister publicly announced at an August 17, 2018 press conference that she had been removed from the board and that a new board had been appointed, comprised of the previous director and other new directors.
Osborne claimed the proper protocol was not followed and she lost benefits that she was contractually entitled to in the position.
Osborne went on to detail the reported accusations Bannister made to the media on August 22, 2018, against her, which she characterized as false accounts of her actions and attacking her professional judgment and character.
She said the remarks to reporters wrongly suggested that she was dishonest, disruptive, incompetent, and had impaired the success of the board of BPL and BEC.
Osborne further claimed Bannister also wrongly suggested that she misappropriated BPL funds for her own personal use; and deliberately or recklessly failed to authorize the purchase of turbochargers which in turn caused the corporation economic loss and caused load shedding, ultimately compromising the delivery of electricity to consumers.
“Minister Bannister’s remarks made to the press and influence as a government official has caused distress and significant damage to my professional reputation due to allegations of dishonesty and theft… ,” Osborne’s statement read.
Osborne, a certified public accountant by profession, said she has been subjected to the threat of investigation by both local and international professional accounting bodies of which she is a member.
“I have suffered tremendous economic loss including injury to my overall reputation, in my profession as a certified public accountant and as an entrepreneur, resulting in catastrophic damages,” read the witness statement.
“This experience has affected me gravely in my personal life and relationships. At the time of my removal from the board, I had one child already in university and another one about to enter university.
“It has taken a toll on my family, on my general health and my mental wellbeing and it is my belief that it has aggravated a dormant heart condition for which I now need to have a hospital procedure in June 2022.
She also claimed to have lost medical benefits at her former place of employment by taking the public position at BPL as a result of the “action of Minister Bannister I have lost the benefits of full medical coverage and Group Medical Insurance”.
In the ongoing legal action, BEC is named as the first defendant, BPL as the second defendant and the attorney general as the third defendant.
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