Potmis' contract with ADC not renewed after all

February 06, 2012 6:50 AM

The contract of Arif Potmis, director of the Analytical Diagnostic Center (ADC), will not be renewed. This was confirmed in a letter which Potmis received recently.

The intention will be ratified in an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting (BAvA) on Monday.The plan is the opposite of the decision taken in the Council of Ministers last week when the latter refused to dismiss Potmis. Also Potmis’ exemption from office was removed and he subsequently returned to ADC last Thursday. Now it appears his return is of short duration.

Having returned to ADC, it also appears that Potmis is not given full authority as director. The Board of Commissioners (RvC) of ADC never made a secret of rather seeing the back of him. According to the RvC, Potmis tolerates conflicts of interest within the ADC, pursues a bad financial policy, there’s a question of a disturbed working relationship between the RvC and Potmis. However, by rejecting the request for dismissal from the RvC, the Council of Ministers expressed their solidarity with Potmis. Especially Minister of Public Health Jacinta Constancia (MFK) disapproved of the RvC’s course of action several times. The Minister made out a case for a fair deal with Potmis. Constancia wanted to avoid the impression she was out to get people. The director is now to leave ADC after all.

The vicissitudes around Potmis keep the minds busy, mainly due to the political games supposedly played behind the scenes. Last Thursday, Minister Constancia said the next move was up to the RvC. She expected the negotiations between the RvC and Potmis would not proceed smoothly due to the disturbed relationship. However, when Constancia mentioned this during the press conference, the RvC had already written a letter to Potmis that described his exit scenario. In the letter, the RvC wrote that ADC will give Potmis his notice if the contract is not terminated in a legally valid way.
 
The Ministry of Public Health, Environment and Nature had requested some local media not to broadcast the Minister’s remarks. None of the approached media had reported on Potmis since.
 
Potmis became director of ADC in 2007, where he was confronted with an instable organization. He was dismissed last year by the RvC, who had namely given the order to conduct an audit. Potmis had stayed home in order not to disturb the procedure. The audit has been completed in the meantime. The findings haven’t been announced yet.
 
Potmis’ contact runs until March 31st. Directors of incorporated companies of the government were warned last year for the approaching end of the perpetual terms of office. In March last year, Minister-President Gerrit Schotte sent a letter to all directors and RvC’s of government companies, stating that the repeatedly renewing of contracts of the directors is an undesired situation in view of  good corporate governance.
 
The government actually sets store by appointing new directors in rotation. These new directors are to be appointed in accordance with the code of good corporate governance. This also means that the recruitment and selection procedure for a new director must be started on time. A six-month’ notice is usually observed.

(Source: Amigoe)

4 February 2012