Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. Keith Mitchell has carried out a recommendation from the Board of Directors of the state-run Grenada Development Bank (GDB) to remove banker, John Dumont from the post of General Manager.
According to a well-placed source, the news of Dumont's downfall was conveyed to staffers at a meeting held just over as week ago at GDB's head office on Melville Street, St. George's.
His departure from the bank came against a letter sent to Prime Minister Mitchell from the board asking him to remove Dumont from the top post at the bank.
Under the act governing the operations of the bank, the power lies in the hands of the Minister of Finance to hire and dismiss the General Manager of GDB.
Dumont's sacking came against the backdrop of controversy surrounding a cheque of EC$17, 000.00 that was made available by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to the Grenada Employers Federation (GEF) to carry out a workshop for its members.
The money was paid directly into a bank account belonging to Dumont who at the time was President of the federation.
GEF officials reportedly made repeated requests to Dumont to hand over the cheque but the funds were not forthcoming from him for months.
An insider told this newspaper that at one time Dumont issued a cheque to the federation for the sum owed but that it was returned by his bank for lack of funds.
"I can tell you that the damn cheque bounced and that was really embarrassing", he quipped.
Former government employee in the Department of Audit, Mervyn Lord has been assigned the task of Officer in charge of the bank pending the appointment of a new GDB General Manager.
Government normally seeks ratification of the appointment of the top post at GDB from the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), one of the major donors of the local financial institution.
