PPL told to sack Mangos

 By MALUM NALU

AN internal PNG Power Ltd investigation has recommended that the employment contract of executive director John Mangos be terminated.

Mangos is currently on suspension pending an investigation by the law firm Gadens Lawyers engaged by PNG Power to look into the 14 allegations made against him by the company.

But an internal memorandum addressed to PNG Power board chairman Larry Andagali and signed by general counsel Vincent Henry dated October 13, recommends that “the board terminates his contract of employment as the executive director of PNG Power”.

Mangos was suspended by the board on September 30. 

Andagali wrote to him that day saying “the board is seriously concerned about these allegations, more so with the way PPL operations were managed since your appointment on April 23, 2015”.

Mangos told The National then that he would respond to the 14 allegations against him within 14 days.

The 14 allegations are that Mangos:

• Was recruited as a “building and construction manager” but became “executive director”, for which PPL was fined K30,000 by the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations;
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• Recruited a person (named) as chief security without a valid work permit which resulted in PPL paying a fine of K30,000;
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• Recruited that person without him being in office;
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• Appointed a person (named) as national security manager when that position was not in the PPL structure;
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• Employed a person (named) to the position of National Call Centre manager without it being in the PPL structure;
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• Gave contracts to new staff he recruited with salaries between K700,000 and K800,000;
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• Rented an apartment at K29,076 a month while continuing to reside at the Grand Papua Hotel, racking up a bill of K44,000 from July to September;
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• Directed PPL to pay K35,000 for white goods for the apartment;
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• Hired vehicles every day;
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• Authorised a payment of K47,000 to Tropic Air for a charter flight to take him to Goroka and Wewak;
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• Terminated the PPL vehicle tracking system with Trackstar and gave the contract to his former employer Digicel;
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• Directed PPL to accept an amendment for the purchase of power via Digicel, which gave increased commissions to Digicel;
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• Was travelling to Brisbane every weekend at PPL expense; and,
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• Was engaging the services of suppliers without the accepted tender and three quotes process.
• While the Gadens Lawyers report has not been released, PNG Power’s internal investigations concludes that:
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• Mangos has not been duly appointed as executive director by Cabinet because the National Gazette did not validate his appointment;
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• Mangos was duly appointed as executive director pursuant to his contract of employment, and therefore, he can be dismissed pursuant to Clause 15 of his contract if his conduct amounts to breaches of the abridged code of ethic and business conduct of PPL which he executed;
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• Mangos was not given an expressed delegated authority by the board to enter into contracts;
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• Mangos, by his actions which give rise to the allegations which are unlawful, irregular, improper, unethical, and abusive, and so he deserves to be terminated; and,
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• It was an administrative matter so the board can make an administrative decision on the information provided.