Watson Willie Acting CEO of AVL

The Board of Directors of the Airports Vanuatu Limited (AVL) chaired by businessman, Alain Lew, has appointed Watson Willie Acting Chief Executive Officer of the government statutory enterprise.

Lew says the Board of AVL met Friday afternoon and decided to appoint Willie on the acting capacity following the termination of the employment contract of the CEO, Jason Rakau, last Wednesday.

The termination of the CEO resulted from a string of incidents following the reinstatement of the Board of Directors led by Lew by the shareholders of AVL – the Minister of Infrastructure and Public Utilities (MIPU), Tony Nari and the Minister of Finance and Economic Management (MFEM), Willie Jimmy.

On September 11, the shareholders met and reviewed the appointments of the directors of AVL. It was brought to the attention of the shareholders that people who had previously acted as directors of AVL were not validly appointed pursuant to Article 76 of the Articles of Association of AVL. The Minutes of the meeting named these people as: Maxwell Maltok, the First Political Adviser to the former Minister of MIPU, Esmon Sae (MP), Andrew Kausiama, the First Political Adviser to the MFEM, Maki Simelum (MP), Tony Ata, the First Political Adviser to the former Minister of Internal Affairs, late Patrick Crowby (MP) and Mark Stafford, a partner of Barrett and Partners.

“The shareholders further noted with concern that despite clear orders of the Supreme Court, in Judicial Case No. 16 of 2014 dated November 3, 2014 and November 7, 2014 quashing the purported removal of members of the Board of AVL chaired by Alain Lew, the shareholders at that time, Hon. Simelum and Hon. Esmon Sae refused to comply with the orders of the Court and pressed for removal of the members of the Board chaired by Mr. Lew,” the minutes of the meeting records.

The judgment/orders made by the Supreme Court in Judicial Review Case No. 16 of 2014 were appealed to the Court of Appeal in Civil Case No. 46 of 2014. The shareholders at that time sought orders from the Court of Appeal to quash and set aside the orders made by the Supreme Court on November 3, 2014 and November 7, 2014.

The shareholders noted that the appeal filed by the shareholders at that time – Ministers Maki Simelum and Esmon Sae, in Civil Case No. 46 of 2014 was refused by the Court of Appeal on May 8, 2015.

“The shareholders understand that the judgment/and orders made by the Supreme Court in Judicial Review Case No. 16 of 2014 on November 3, 2014 is valid, alive and enforceable,” the Minutes of the Shareholders meeting records also.

In compliance with the judgment/orders of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Vanuatu, the shareholders “Resolved to reinstate Alain Lew as member of and chairman of Board of AVL, Thomas Tait as member of Board of AVL and Alan Carlot as Company Secretary of AVL in compliance with Supreme Court orders of November 3, 2014 and November 7, 2014 in Judicial Review Case No. 16 of 2014, which was upheld by the Court of Civil Appeal Case No. 46 of 2014 on May 8, 2015.”

This decision of the shareholders meeting has been filed with the Registrar of Companies, says Alain Lew.

According to Lew, despite the decision of the shareholders and the reinstatement of the Board he leads, the CEO, who was “appointed by the Board that the Court has found was illegally constituted” refused members entry into the premises of the company.

“Private security men were even called to have us removed from the office,” Chairman Lew said. As a result the Board suspended the CEO on Tuesday last week.

“The next morning when we went to the AVL Office the CEO continued to refuse us entry and by 1.30pm we sought the help of the police, but the police were later recalled,” Lew said.

“So, we had no alternative, but to seek the help of the private security people to evict the CEO and he was terminated.”

The terminated CEO said he was acting on legal advice from AVL’s lawyers and in the best interest of the company.

However, Lew countered that if the CEO was really serious about the interests of AVL he would have tried to resolve the claims for millions of vatu in damages now in Court against AVL by former employees: Alan Carlot –Vt50 million; Peter Bong – Vt30 million; Kevin Abel – Vt30 million; and Harrison Toar Luen – Vt20 million.

Now the terminated CEO, Jason Rakau, said he was considering legal action over his dismissal.