The board of the National Insurance Board (NIB) will still be able to function even without a chairman, Minister of National Insurance Shane Gibson said yesterday. Gibson's comments came when asked if the controversy surrounding the now former NIB Chairman Gregory Moss would impede the board's work. Yesterday, Prime Minister Perry Christie fired Moss. On Wednesday, Christie asked Moss to resign but he refused to do so. Christie's request for Moss' resignation came a day after Moss released a lengthy statement, defending his actions as NIB chairman and hitting out at public comments Christie made about the status of his corporate credit card.
"If a statutory board is appointed and a member of the board resigns, the board carries on," said Gibson, hours before he announced that Moss was fired. "In most cases, for instance in Cabinet, I think at least 10 persons make up a quorum in Cabinet so every statutory board has a minimum that is required to carry on the business. So once one person resigns it is business as usual." However, he could not say who would replace Moss. "Once an individual is no longer there I think the government will just make a decision as to who is best suited to fill the position that becomes vacant."
On Tuesday, Moss said Christie's comment on his NIB-issued credit card was untrue. Christie told reporters last week Moss no longer had the credit card. Moss also addressed the specific allegations outlined in a lawsuit filed against him and NIB by now suspended NIB Director Algernon Cargill. Cargill said in an affidavit there were concerns within NIB about Moss' use of the credit card. Moss also hit out at the people he said were charged with defending his integrity, but have mounted a tepid defence in the face of the allegations. Yesterday, Gibson said while he wasn't embarrassed by Moss' words, he was disappointed. "I spoke with him yesterday very briefly,"Gibson said.
"He was concerned that impression out there was that he did something wrong. "It wasn't a matter of whether he did something wrong because I never thought he did anything wrong with the credit card. "It's just a matter of us developing a proper policy for the use of the credit card and that is why I instructed him not to use the credit card to which he agreed. "And so, I got the impression that people thought he was still using it when in fact he was not because he was instructed not to.
"Subsequent to that, I instructed National Insurance to cancel both credit cards, the one that's being held by Mr. Moss and the one that's being held by Mr. Cargill. "I know I instructed him not to use it. Where it is right now physically I don't know. When this thing first started over a month ago and he agreed that he would not use it, I don't have any evidence to show that he actually did use it." Gibson said the corporate credit card has a limit of $25,000. The government is still awaiting the results of an independent audit into NIB's accounts. That report is expected to be completed on or before January 15. Gibson said the auditors still had to interview Moss, Cargill and a few other people before they complete their work.
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