By Amin Kef Sesay
The matter brought against the Standard Chartered Bank –Sierra Leone by two former senior staff for illegal, unlawful and discriminatory dismissal came up in the High Court of Sierra Leone on the 4th August 2021 presided over by Justice Sengu Koroma.
Taking the cue from the previous court session, the lawyers for Standard Chartered Bank, Lambert and Partners, continue to push for the removal of the parent Standard Chartered Plc (The Group), with Bill Winters as the Chief Executive Officer, from the case against the Bank by two senior staff for illegal, unlawful and discriminatory dismissal.
However, according to our source, the Group that took the decision to dismiss the senior staff has now reviewed the entire incident and fighting hard to be removed from the matter.
What is for now is somehow baffling is that a decision, which was solely made within the vertical Management structure of Standard Chartered Plc (The Group), is what they are now dissociating themselves from, that is the local franchise Management in Sierra Leone which apparently exposes the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the local franchise to be dragged to court to answer to a matter she had never been a party to.
The lawyers for the Bank (defendants) also noted that, the letter of dismissal was signed by the Head of Human Resources Standard Chartered Bank SL, Mariama Kamara, substantiating the position that Standard Chartered Bank Sierra Leone Ltd took the decision.
However, the lawyers for the plaintiff clearly stated that Mariama Kamara was merely a conduit used by Standard Chartered Plc to deliver the dismissal letters and in this case, she was not treated fairly nor with respect.
The salient point that is incontestable is that as the Head of Human Resources of the franchise she should at least be involved in a matter impacting two senior staff, who before their dismissal were acting as Chief Executive Officers at different periods, especially where there is no conflict of interest.
It is uncommon to see a multi-national company with great reputation fight to separate the operations of the parent body from its subsidiaries leaving the local Management to fight a matter for which they had limited influence.
Standard Chartered Plc is a Global Company that prides itself to its shareholders and regulators with the mantra to be ‘Here for Good’ and ‘Here for People’. Lamentably, it is now looking to abandon the Local Management for a decision allegedly considered to be grossly unfair and unreasonably excessive leading to the dismissal of senior staff that was taken at the Group level.
In the High Court on 4th August 2021, the lawyers for the plaintiff also presented that even though persons who are subject matter experts within Standard Chartered Plc investigated the matter and concluded that the concerns raised by Standard Chartered New York in the reference transaction were based on false alerts, the Group proceeded to have the pre-meditated disciplinary meeting and dismissed the staff without giving them the opportunity to be heard through appeal which is part of the Group’s process.
In a brief review of the case, the lawyers for the plaintiff, highlighted that in a single transaction, Standard Chartered Bank, New York, UK, UAE, Germany, Nigeria, Ghana, Global Business Services, etc. have persons who were directly involved in the process. Therefore, there is a very likelihood a significant number of persons within the vertical management structure of Standard Chartered Plc (The Group) will be called by the court to answer to their roles in the transaction and failure to attend might be considered as “Contempt of Court” on the part of the Standard Chartered Plc the 2nd Defendant (The full details of staff will be published in our next edition).
At this stage of the proceedings what is clear is that, the Management of Standard Chartered Bank Sierra Leone and other franchises in different geographies, should now wake up to the reality that, they will be held accountable even though they serve as conduit for decisions made by the Group, and in the court of law the Group will push for their removal from such responsibilities.
The matter will continue in court next week as the lawyers of the plaintiff, Yada Williams and Associates continue to put their case for Standard Chartered Plc (The Group) to remain as a material party in the matter.
