PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Lawyers for the dismissed chief executive officer of the State-owned Caribbean Airlines, Captain Ian Brunton, have written to the airline accusing it of using unlawful and improper power to dismiss their client.
Brunton, 65, was dismissed by letter last weekend amid media reports of tensions between Works and Transport Minister Austin “Jack” Warner and the newly-installed chairman of the airline, George Nicholas.
In a statement, Caribbean Airlines said that Brunton had “demitted office” and that the present vice president, Commercial and Customer Experience, Robert Corbie, has replaced Brunton and will now oversee a newly merged workforce of 1,866 employees at CAL and Air Jamaica.
But in their letter, Brunton lawyers said he had received his termination letter “under the hand” of Nicholas with “astonishment and disappointment”, given that he had previously received no complaints about his performance.
The lawyers have asked that the decision to terminate him be recanted with immediate effect because it was improper and unlawful.
The letter said Brunton oversaw a turnaround of the airline with shareholders equity increasing from US$110 million from the date of his appointment to US$164 million. It added that there were shared concerns of line Minister Warner that an “apparently unilateral decision” was taken to terminate Brunton’s services.
The attorneys said Brunton indicated that at the last CAL board meeting on November 15, at which he was present, no issue was raised about his performance,
Media reports over the last weekend noted that Warner, who is now in Switzerland attending a meeting of the International Football federation (FIFA) of which he is a vice president, has had a verbal disagreement with Nicholas, whom he accuses of having a “complete lack of respect for me as the line minister”.
“He did not inform me as the line minister about why he dismissed Mr Brunton.”
Warner said there were a number of meetings about policy direction for CAL and the recent acquisition of Air Jamaica, as well as the purchase of nine new turbo prop aircraft by CAL at a cost of US$200 million from European manufacturer ATR.
Sources said the new board does not support the purchase of the new aircraft and Warner is reported to have disagreed with Nicholas about which company to purchase the aircraft from.
He said the “lack of respect” from Nicholas has forced him to complain formally to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
On Monday, the Prime Minister met with all the members of State-owned boards, including Nicholas.
Brunton’s attorney say that their client’s dismissal may have been unilateral and that one of the board members was not in the country since that initial board meeting on November 15.
It said any decision to terminate him “merely to retaliate against the line minister with no heed being paid to the deleterious consequences to the airline is a clear breach of the fiduciary obligation of a board member” and flagrant act of corporate misconduct.
The lawyers are also calling on the airline to confirm if the directors met and voted in favour of the decision to terminate Brunton and noted that independent obligations of each board member to act collegiately in the best interest of the airline.
“Accordingly, we ask that this purported decision be recanted with immediate effect as being an improper and unlawful exercise of power,” the attorneys said in the letter.
CMC
