KPMG distances itself from racist rant
PORT OF SPAIN (CMC):
THE AUDIT, tax and advisory firm, KPMG, has sought to distance itself from one of its managers who used social media to post a ‘racist’ statement regarding black people in Trinidad and Tobago.
Sachin Boodram, an audit manager at KPMG, last week posted on Facebook that the “Majority of crime in Trinidad is in predominantly black communities”, and that most of those in the jails here were black people.
He said also that many “prefer” to be unemployed and “to sell drugs”. Boodram said that the majority of business owners are “robbed by blacks”.
But in a statement on its Facebook page, KPMG said that it was “deeply disturbed by the comments” and wanted to “assure you that the personal views and opinions of individual staff members are not, nor will they ever be, that of our firm.
“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the comments and any act that promotes racism in Trinidad and Tobago and across the globe. We do not act impulsively on sensitive issues as all our decisions are based on careful consideration of the facts of the situation.
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“Consequently, any acts committed by our employees that go against our values or policies are thoroughly investigated to establish the facts, thus ensuring that the resultant disciplinary actions are just and commensurate with the severity of the violation. This situation is no different,” KPMG said.
It said that as a firm and as individuals, “we have no tolerance for hatred or racism in any form.
“When such bias raises its ugly head in our firm, we move swiftly to deal with it and use the opportunity to reiterate our values to our staff and to counsel them on what we consider to be acceptable behaviours in a mutlicultural world.
“We want to assure all that at KPMG in Trinidad and Tobago, we embrace the virtues of inclusion and diversity, as we strive to inspire confidence and empower change in the world in which we live. You can rest assured that our internal investigative and disciplinary process is thorough and will result in action that is just, fair and proportionate to the egregious nature of this act,” the company added.