In the last few weeks I saw a news article about ECCO – Eastern Caribbean Collective Organisation which concluded a Strategic Planning Workshop and Retreat for Board members and staff. This is the strategy which persons use to get some ideas on how to do a job. However after reading the article and watching the news clips tears came to my eyes as I saw years of hard work being washed down the drain by two conniving poorly educated overzealous young men the CEO Martin James and the Chairman Mr. Bruno Leonce.
In 2019 the present CEO was the Chairman who orchestrated the dismissal of the company’s 1st CEO who gave 17 years of service. The police and audit investigation found no evidence of fraud just abuse of power. This action by Chairman James left ECCO to settle with former CEO Etienne of over $150,000 EC for wrongful suspension of duties.
The entire process of selecting the CEO in 2023 was fraudulent as Mr. James astonishingly got the ECCO Board to use the same questions from the interviews for the CEO Job interviews in 2019 and as an applicant himself in 2023. QUESTIONS REMAIN how despite not having a degree, he was selected for CEO by a HR committee, chaired by Bruno Leonce. Somehow James hijacked the process and manipulated the HR consultant into ignoring the fact that he lacked the recommended qualification and choosing him for the post of CEO 0f ECCO. The entire process of selecting the CEO in 2023 was fraudulent. The advertised job of CEO was never been advertised as having to learn the job on the job also it said that applicant’s had to have a degree, which James has never proven he has, but was doing an ongoing MBA!!!
The key here is the relationship between HR committee Chair Leonce and CEO James. Leonce has boasted that he selected and supported James over other candidates who were qualified and had degrees.
There were early warning signs noticed by the original members however they decided to ignore for the sake of continuity. Please allow me to use the analogy of BOOMS as it reflects appropriately with the present world order in contextualizing some shocking investigative findings.
1st Bomb came in 2023 when CEO James moved the ECCO office from the company’s owned building in Sans Souci to a rented office citing the building needs renovation. Almost a year later the building has deteriorated in an abandoned state with no renovation taking place, an asset which has been significantly devalued.
2nd Bomb came when CISAC the world governing body for collective administrations decided to downgrade ECCO’s membership from full membership to provisional member.
3rd Bomb was odd when the newly elected CEO from the first month on the job travelled to Mexico deemed for educational purposes, then to Chile, rather than to visit the other ECCO member countries who he represents.
4th Bomb went off like the one before in 2024 again deciding to take off to South Korea for a conference spending over EC$35,000.
5th Bomb BRUNO LEONCE, the former HR committee Chair was elected by the current directors to become the Chair of the board of Directors earlier this year. LEONCE was convicted and sentenced to 7 years at the Bordelais Correctional Facility and released in 2009. He also has been charged for possession of ammunition and firearms previously.
The last bomb was the most bizarre of all. A businessman like LEONCE to be so pompous or plain stupid that he did not know a person who has criminal record cannot hold any directorship position of a company under Saint Lucian law. Therefore as it stands the ECCO board of directors must resign as they are illegal. The ECCO CEO must resign as he was hired by an illegal Chair of HR committee. It must be noted the current CEO James, a former Police officer knew of Leonce conviction and continues to ignore that fact that a person with a conviction cannot be a director of a profit making entity much less a nonprofit entity as ECCO is.
The Registrar of COMPANIES and Attorney General office in Saint Lucia must investigate ECCO, its imperative that this is done immediately to protect the organization and it’s menbers.
