STONEWALLING

Management Denying Payroll Records:

`They're hiding the truth'

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, JULY 25- Riverbay board member Daryl Johnson, turning up the heat in his effort to gain access to Co-op City's payroll records, said that there is only one possible explanation for denying him the access he has been seeking for over a year.

“The only explanation I can think of for this charade is that the people at Riverbay are hiding something --- that they're hiding the truth,” Johnson stressed. “Otherwise, giving members of the board access to corporate records would be a total `no-brainer.'”

Johnson added, “I don't know how board members can meet their fiduciary responsibilities as board members without having access to critically important information about the Riverbay Corporation.”

Riverbay president William Gordon said that several members of the board had voiced objections to giving Johnson access to Co-op City's payroll records after Gordon had agreed to give him this access.

Helen Atkins, Gordon's predecessor as the board's president, working in concert with Herbert Freedman, had denied Johnson access to Co-op City's patrol records for over a year.

Gordon, who was on vacation this week, said, last week, that the board was in the process of drafting guidelines that would set parameters for Johnson to review Co-op City's corporate records.

“I find it astounding that I seem to be the only member of the board who wants to review Co-op City's corporate records, including the Riverbay Corporation's payroll records,” Johnson stressed. “Reviewing the records is a basic duty and responsibility that comes with being a member of a board of directors.”

Johnson added, “The Business Corporation of New York State gives me the right to review the Riverbay Corporation's records, including the corporate records. It is really ignorant fore members of the board to suggest that Co-op City needs to enforce stringent guidelines as a precondition for my review of the corporate records.”

The board member stressed, “There is really no place for this kind of ignorance on Co-op City's board of directors.  The law is on my side, and so is common sense. I am determined to use any and all means at my disposal to get access to records that have been illegally denied to me for over a year.”

Johnson noted, “It's really ignorant that we're wasting so much time with this stupidity. It's obvious to me that the members of the board and the people in management wouldn't be denying me access to these records if they didn't have something to hide.”