Two months after government’s cellphone bills were leaked to the media Digicel Grenada is denying responsibility.
The government has also announced that an investigation is underway.
Digicel had been silent on the issue but last Wednesday the company issued a statement which said:
“Following weeks of thorough internal investigations Digicel Grenada can safely conclude and publicly state that the leak of the government associate’s bill did not originate from within the operations of Digicel Grenada Ltd”.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell had publicly blamed the company for not adhering to the arrangement with government and allowing users to go over the limit which he claimed had been set in the contract.
Government operates three separate plans with the company; a bundled minutes plan, shared among senior public officers; a top-up plan for field officers who get a monthly credit of $40.00; and a third plan for ministers and senior government officials.
The leak brought to light the fact that a number of people who were no longer engaged in government posts remained in possession and use of phones, for which the State continued to pay huge sums.
The bills, which covered a three-month period, included charges totalling about $70, 000.00 on a cellphone used by former government senator and Junior Minister, Sheldon Scott.
Scott’s senatorial appointment and his post within the Ministry of Youth ended in 2016 and he continued to use the phone up until the situation was made public a few weeks ago.
Scott has since publicly admitted on the radio programme which he hosts for the ruling New National Party (NNP) that he had knowingly continued to use the phone which he was no longer eligible to have.
Chief Executive Officer of Digicel Grenada, Shrivon Redhead, in the statement issued, said: “Customer confidentiality is something we take very seriously and we have in place best practices to protect against the release of private customer information”.
There has been speculation about the source of the leak and operatives close to the government had floated the idea that an investigation would be launched, to find out how the bills were leaked to radio talk show host, Kem Jones.
“When the allegations arose, we made it a priority to conduct an internal audit in order to establish the facts, ensure that there was no breach of information on our part and confirm that we did everything possible to protect the confidentiality of our customers.
“Our customers can continue to rely on us and to trust that we will treat their personal information with the strictest confidence.”
The Mitchell-led government announced that Scott and others who abused the system would have to repay the monies but no details were provided to the public on the repayment plan worked out with them.