ENQUÊTE SUR LE DÉCÈS DE PARMANANDSING PERSAND: Rapport accablant pour certains managers des casinos

Cela fait bientôt deux mois que les conclusions du comité d'enquête présidé par Me Robin Ramburn sur le décès de Parmanandsing Persand – dont il a été établi qu'il a été soumis à un "tough time" – ont été soumises à la State Investment Corporation Management Services Ltd. A ce jour, rien n'a été entrepris pour remédier à la situation au sein des casinos. Ces conclusions sont pourtant accablantes pour certains managers et autres soi disant responsables qui ont employé des méthodes de voyou plutôt que d'adhérer à de strictes procédures industrielles.
Au contraire, les échos qui nous parviennent indiquent que la stratégie c'est "business as usual" et de "zoué bliyé" avec, à terme, des promotions pour ceux qui sont visés par le rapport. Pire, une pièce à conviction connue comme la vidéo 40 et qui concerne un "monitoring" de Parmanandsing Persand est entre les mains de ceux qui n'auraient pas dû y avoir accès.
C'est Week-End qui révélait, le 8 juillet dernier, que le Assistant Unit Head Security Officer était décédé le 3 juillet après avoir écrit une lettre le 18 juin à la direction, se plaignant d'avoir été convoqué pour rien dans le boardroom par la direction en présence de policiers, d'être constamment harcelé et d'avoir été dégradé au profit de subalternes et de se voir imposé des tâches de nuit alors que son état de santé ne le lui permettait pas.
Cette affaire avait soulevé un vif émoi dans l'opinion et c'est sous la pression du syndicat et des personnes externes aux casinos que la SICMS Ltd décida de mettre sur pied un comité d'enquête pour faire la lumière sur les circonstances du décès de Parmanandsing Persand et ses accusations de harcèlement.
Dans ses conclusions, le comité souligne que "some of the witnesses traced the origin of the problem of Mr Persand back to 2008 when he would have discovered a fraud at the Domaine Casino involving a particular staff and… instead of being congratulated, he was taken to task."
Le président écrit aussi que "It is clear from the evidence before me that Mr Persand was being given a tough time. a surveillance Officer was asked to monitor Mr Persand." A ce sujet, Me Robin Ramburn souligne que "As I understand it, monitoring is done generally and no specific person is targeted except when that person is suspected  of some fraudulent/suspicious activity."
"Some officers were bent to take to task Mr Persand"
S'agissant des frictions entre le défunt et certains de ses collègues, le rapport note que "one could have reasonably expected the superior officers to intervene efficiently and properly to resolve such a situation. Instead, one sees that Mr Persand is stripped off of his responsibility as Assistant Head Security in that he was not allowed to prepare the breaklist and working orders and same was assigned to Mr Bisnauthsingh who according to his job title/description was not empowered to do so."
Quant au transfert de M. Persand au car park, l'auteur considère que cela "is to say the least in total disregard of the contractual obligations which an employer owes to an employee. Responsibilities which by contract was assigned to Mr Persand were removed and the bare truth is that he was reduced to be a Security Officer instead of his position of Assistant Head Security. One is left to wonder whether this in itself could not have amounted to a breach of contract by the employer, however I do not have sufficient particulars before me to make a finding on this aspect."
Quant à la suspension de Parmanandsing Persand, Me Robin Ramburn la commente ainsi: "The manner in which the suspension letter was given to  Mr Persand is certainly not a model to be followed by employers. I have had the benefit of viewing the video footage and also to hear the conversation which ensued… one would have expected Mr Seegobin to call the employee to his office and remit to him the suspension letter rather than coming across in a public area where customers are accessing/exiting to hand deliver the letter."
Le président du comité d'enquête note, par ailleurs, que personne n'a été en mesure de donner une explication cohérente quant aux raisons pour lesquelles "Mr Bisnauthsingh was given the duty to prepare the breaklist, a task usually assigned to an Assistant Head Security, when he was a Desk Security Office." Et d'ajouter que "the management may wish to probe further on this issue with Mr Dabeesingh and also why was this duty removed from Mr Persand."
Plus loin, il écrit aussi que "after having heard all these witnesses, one is left with the distinct impression that some officers were bent to take to task Mr Persand and this for reasons best known to themselves." Même s'il affirme ne pas être en position de dire que "the death of Mr Persand was due to what occurred to him at work nor was it my term of reference to look into this specific aspect. But what I can say is that Mr Persand has been dealt with in a high handed manner by certain officers and it is a matter of regret that those at the head chose to play a passive role rather than intervene and resolve the conflicting industrial relationship between certain members of the staff and Mr Persand."
Me Ramburn note également que la lettre du 18 juin écrite par M. Persand dont copies avaient aussi été envoyées à des responsables "was not attended to promptly or at all. One can only guess that had management decided to enquire into the complaint we may not have reached the present situation."
Et de terminer ainsi: "I believe that the Directors ought to set their foot down more firmly and store a more rigorous code for the staff and ensure that discipline prevails as this can only be beneficial to Management, staff and the company itself."

Mme Persand: "He told me that he was being harassed at work…"
La veuve de Parmanandsing Persand, qui était assistée de son conseiller légal, Me Clive Auffray, a eu ceci à dire: "She said that her late husband worked in the casino for 17 years… received an award for Best Performance in 2002, 2003 and 2008… her husband told her that he is being harrased at work and he got a feeling that since an incident at Domaine les Pailles, there was something suspicious going on…"
Sur l'incident lui-même, la veuve racontera au comité que "he saw some people changing tokens before the game when the till was opening. He found this odd and report it to Mr Dabeesingh for him to take any actions. Since then, they started to transfer him… because he found some odd things going on at the casino."
Sur l'état de santé de son époux, surtout après qu'il avait été victime d'un accident: "he had headache and could not eat… they traumatised him to the extent that he wet his trousers… he told me that he is being traumatised at work and he could not cope anymore and wanted to quit… his feet were broken, he was on crutches and he could not work properly… he had to sit down very often, he could not lift his right hand and he suffered bad stomach pain… he discovered that he had diabetes… on 30th June he fell ill and he died from a heart attack… he did some test before his medical appointment and everything was normal."
Elle dit aussi avoir dénoncé tout cela pour que "no other colleagues will go through what my husband had to bear at his workplace."

Des employés: "They were insulting him!"
"When Mr Persand used to sit on a chair when he was not feeling well, they used to take his chair away"
Si certains protégés de la direction ont prétendu devant le comité qu'il n'y avait aucun problème avec Parnanandsing Persand, d'autres en ont profité pour ouvrir leur cœur, comme en témoignent les propos tenus devant le comité d'enquête…
N.R.: "M. Persand was affected from the time they transferred him to the Car Park."
R.C.: "He also narrated that on a Thursday Mr Persand was eating in the staff room, they did not let him finish his food and asked him to come to the boardroom for him to confront the Police."
N.S.: "When Mr Persand used to sit on a chair when he was not feeling well, they used to take his chair away."
A.G.: "The management took a wrong decision which has caused Mr Persand much troubles."
R.M.: "I also am being harrassed."
H.H.: "Mr Persand told me they brought the police to him and was harrassing him at work."
S.S.: "They were harrassing him."
R.B.: Après un incident au cours duquel il fut demandé à M. Persand de quitter immédiatement son lieu de travail, "he was feeling dizzy… he was crying…"
B.W.: "One day the manager asked to monitor specifically Mr Persand on the CCTV monitor… and to keep an eye on him."
S.R.: "…long before Mr Persand's accident, they were harassing him… he viewed the recording of 2nd April 2012 and he did see how they were reacting towards Mr Persand, he could hear what they were saying and they were insulting him."

MM. Dabeesingh et Bisnathsingh ne voulaient pas de la présence du syndicaliste Jayen Moorghen
Silence surprenant aussi de Rajesh Seegobin "about the episode when he gave the suspension letter to Mr Persand in public"
Ils sont deux à avoir tenté d'objecter à la présence de Jayen Moorghen, président de la Casino Employees Union, durant les auditions du comité d'enquête présidé par Me Robin Ramburn, Bheemal Dabeesingh et A.B. Bisnauthsungh. Quant à Rajesh Seegobin, le comité note qu'il a bien relaté certains événements relatifs à Pramanandsing Persand, mais que "he was completely silent about the episode when he gave the suspension letter to Mr Persand in public."
Sur le premier nommé qui a la responsabilité du département de Surveillance and Security, donc le chef hiérarchique direct de Parmanansing Persand, Me Ramburn écrit que "Mr Dabeesingh before deponing, requested from the Committee that Mr Moorghen President of the CEU to move out from this committee as he had some confidential information to transmit, and that some people are called to depone and that they have been influenced to do so against him. Mr Dabeesingh resquest was not acceded to…"
Quant au "cleaner" devenu Desk Security Officer et qui s'était vu confier les responsabilités dévolues à Parmanandsing Persand, A. B. Bisnauthsingh, le rapport fait état de ceci "While he was deponing, Mr Bisnauthsingh spoke of contacting his attorney and asked that Mr Moorghen withdraws", mais le représentant du management M. Gowreesunker devait couper court à cette objection et dire qu'il n'y a pas de charges formelles et qu'il pouvait ne pas déposer s'il le voulait.