The board of the National Insurance Board (NIB) yesterday stood by its chairman, Gregory Moss, in the face of allegations brought against him by NIB Director Algernon Cargill. Board members held a press conference at NIB's headquarters, but Moss was absent. "The board...confirms that under the leadership of Chairman Gregory Moss, they continue to carry out their mandate to firstly protect the assets of the National Insurance Fund for the benefit of the Bahamian people, and secondly to oversee the daily operations of the National Insurance Board," said Bernard Evans, deputy chairman of the board.
"Decisions made by the board of directors as part of its administrative oversight of NIB are that of the board and not the chairman alone. "The board takes full responsibility for all of its corporate decisions and reaffirms that the chairman is only the chief spokesperson for the board. "The board continues to give the chairman its full support as he executes his leadership role and in support of the chairman will continue to function fully to ensure that NIB carries out its important social welfare function."
Evans noted that NIB has $1.6 billion in assets, which are fully accounted for. Cargill was placed on administrative leave following a series of allegations made by Moss in a 22-page letter to Minister of Labour and National Insurance Shane Gibson. Cargill countered with his own lawsuit against Moss and NIB. He is suing for defamation, wrongful and unfair dismissal and breach of the Data Protection Act. As a part of his lawsuit, he presented a dossier of evidence attached to his 33-page affidavit. Cargill made several serious claims against Moss and also said there were concerns regarding the chairman's use of an NIB corporate credit card.
Cargill said Moss instructed NIB to provide a $15,000 guarantee to Doctors Hospital for heart surgery for a Grand Bahama resident, which was outside NIB's policy and the National Insurance Act and Regulations. The board of directors yesterday did not respond to questions regarding any of the allegations. Merrit Storr, a member of the board, said NIB has retained legal counsel. He said Anthony McKinney of McKinney Turner and Co. and Krystal Rolle from Rolle & Rolle are representing NIB. "They will do what is normal in matters of that nature," Storr said.
"They'll enter an appearance [and] if it's necessary they will enter a defense. So they will have management of the matter before the court." Storr said the board is operating as normal despite the recent controversy. He said the board held a meeting on Saturday and Moss attended. "We acknowledge that there is a lot of publicity, most of it not positive, out in the press at the moment, but we wanted to emphasize that the work of the board is continuing, and so the National Insurance Board has not been hampered in any way by what is unfortunately happening in the public domain," he said.
Evans said after the allegations surfaced the spirits of NIB's workers were impacted. "They felt down at first, but I feel now that their sense of spirit has been lifted," he said. "They want the saga to be over beyond a shadow of a doubt...Hopefully in the new year, moving forward we will have this behind us." Prime Minister Perry Christie told reporters last week that the status quo at NIB would remain pending the completion of an independent audit into NIB's accounts. He met with Moss last Monday to discuss matters related to NIB.
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