Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (Batelco) denied the allegations made by a lawmaker and published by the kingdom's Gulf Daily News newspaper in its Wednesday edition. The lawmaker, Abdullatif al-Shaikh, accused Batelco of paying off an executive in Jordan to secure an acquisition in that country and of running fake projects that allowed company officials to make money.
The company said Batelco’s Chairman, Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and a number of Board Directors met on 9 January 2008 with representatives from Mumtalakat’s Board as directed by the Minister of Finance following the allegations, which were also raised in Parliament.
"All questions were answered in detail and Batelco’s Chairman explained the Board’s significant involvement with many high impact operational decisions through corporate governance, based on Audit Committee, Executive Committee, Trading Committee and Board meetings," the official statement has indicated.
“Each and every allegation will be investigated by Batelco’s Board,” Shaikh Hamad was quoted as saying.
"It is unfortunate that a number of unsubstantiated allegations have been made, under Parliamentary privilege, aimed to discredit one of the most successful companies in Bahrain and the region," said Batelco Chief Executive Peter Kaliaropoulos.
"Such allegations, including, ‘lawyer hired at BD11m’ or ‘official offered $30m in golden handcuff deal’ or ‘infrastructure projects of BD1.5m not checked by the Project Committee’ or ‘Australian Managers earning BD14,000 a month’, are untrue and sensational," stated Mr. Kaliaropoulos.
"What is true is that Batelco's executive leadership team and the 1600 men and women working in Bahrain have transformed Batelco in the last 3 years into a more customer driven company, improving value and service for customers,” he said.
“It is true that Batelco has introduced strong corporate governance and disclosure rules and increased transparency right across the company and renegotiated many supply contracts which benefited directly Batelco's shareholders.”
“It is also true that Batelco's operating culture has been transformed, driven by high standards of performance and rewards, and recognition for employees’ is now closely linked to performance levels.”
The CEO went on to state that it is a fact that Batelco's business in Bahrain is adversely affected by regulation, competition, process automation and technology.
“Such forces are reshaping our business and necessitate an innovative approach to everything we do. Our industry is evolving on a global basis and Batelco in Bahrain cannot escape such changes. We need to embrace them and over time reshape Batelco into an even more competitive company for the benefit of our customers and the Kingdom," he explained.
"Unfortunately, changes to our operations, whilst necessary for the long term benefit of the company and the great majority of the employees, are considered unpopular in the short term. We are keen to share details of Batelco's transformation programme with anyone who is concerned.” "I take exception to such unsubstantiated allegations about corrupt practices in Batelco," continued Mr. Kaliaropoulos.
“A detailed and independent report will be presented to the Board regarding all these allegations.”
“Batelco's record performance at the end of Q3 2007 with gross revenue growth of 25.6% and net profit growth of 10.7% over the previous 12 months period, whilst it pleasantly surprised a number of market analysts, was not a surprise to the executive team and the Board,” the CEO commented.
“Nor was it a surprised that Batelco, for its commitment to Bahraini employees, received an award from the Ministry of Labour in September 2007, as the Best Company in the Kingdom for Bahrainisation levels at 93% and Development of Human Resources.”
"With the support of our people in Bahrain and across our joint venture companies, we are delivering the strategic initiatives we promised the Board. We remain committed to transforming Batelco into a very competitive company of reference within our industry in this region, for the benefit of our customers and employees and one which all Bahrainis can be very proud of," concluded Mr. Kaliaropoulos.
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
