PORT OF SPAIN – The audit, tax and advisory firm, KPMG, has sought to distance itself from one of its managers who used social media to post a “racist” statement regarding black people in Trinidad and Tobago.
Sachin Boodram, an audit manager at KPMG, last week posted on Facebook that the “Majority of crime in Trinidad is in predominantly black communities” and that most of those in the jails here were black people.
He said also that that many “prefer” to be unemployed and “to sell drugs”. Boodram said that the majority of business owners are “robbed by blacks
But in a statement on its Facebook page, KPMG said that it was “deeply disturbed by the comments” and wanted to “assure you that the personal views and opinions of individual staff members are not, nor will they ever be that of our firm”.
“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the comments and any act that promotes racism in Trinidad and Tobago and across the globe. We do not act impulsively on sensitive issues as all our decisions are based on careful consideration of the facts of the situation.
“Consequently, any acts committed by our employees that go against our values or policies are thoroughly investigated to establish the facts, thus ensuring that the resultant disciplinary actions are just and commensurate with the severity of the violation. This situation is no different,’ KPMG said.
It said that as a firm and as individuals, “we have no tolerance for hatred or racism in any form.
“This is not who we are as KPMG. Our country is rich culturally and we are known for our diversity. Similarly, at KPMG we are a truly diverse firm. This diversity makes us stronger together”.
The firm said that its composition is no different from the society of which it operates but acknowledges “unfortunately, our society does have conscious and unconscious bias.
“When such bias raises its ugly head in our firm, we move swiftly to deal with it and use the opportunity to reiterate our values to our staff and to counsel them on what we consider to be acceptable behaviours in a mutli-cultural world.
“As a society, we all have to deal with this bias and when we stand together we will eradicate this and make the world a better place for all. Then we can truly say to the world that in Trinidad and Tobago, every creed and race does find an equal place, across all ethnicities, cultures, abilities, faiths, gender and sexual orientation.
“We want to assure all that at KPMG in Trinidad and Tobago, we embrace the virtues of inclusion and diversity, as we strive to inspire confidence and empower change in the world in which we live. We want to thank you for your comments. You can rest assured that our internal investigative and disciplinary process is thorough and will result in action that is just, fair and proportionate to the egregious nature of this act,” the company added. (CMC)
