Further Delay for NIB Audit

Fri, Feb 22nd 2013, 03:34 PM

The audit into the accounts of the National Insurance Board (NIB) could be delayed further as new information becomes available, Minister of Labour and National Insurance Shane Gibson revealed yesterday. Asked when the report would be completed, Gibson said, "At this stage the only thing I can say is soon. "I spoke to auditors last week and they requested additional information. As you know, prior to NIB being a part of the Ministry of Labour it came under the Ministry of Finance. "And [the Ministry of Finance] had several large boxes of files that comprised correspondence between NIB and the then minister, who is the former prime minister (Hubert Ingraham) and minister of state (Zhivargo Laing).

So they are now going through that to cross reference the information, I suppose. "They asked for it and the ministry gave it to them. I guess that's why they are taking a bit longer because they really have to go through the information to verify, to substantiate and give you a credible report." Gibson spoke to reporters before he headed into a Cabinet meeting yesterday morning. The audit was initially expected to be completed in December. It has faced several delays since then.

Grant Thornton was contracted by the government to audit NIB's accounts after a 22-page letter written by (now former) NIB Chairman Gregory Moss with serious accusations against suspended NIB Director Algernon Cargill was leaked in November. The board recommended that Cargill be terminated. Gibson said the extension is costing the government more money. "At the end of the day the Board [of NIB] recommended termination and I could have just terminated without this audit," Gibson said.

"But we thought that we would give this a fair shot and look at the information to determine whether or not it was justified so we ordered the audit. "Mr. Cargill turned around and submitted an affidavit which really had no relevance to the audit, but the fact that he raised those issues then we had to go investigate those for the audit just to create balance. "So when we look at what it was going to cost us initially and the fact that we had to expand their terms of reference, then obviously it's going to cost more." However, he refused to say what the cost will now be.

In his letter to Gibson outlining allegations against Cargill, Moss indicated that the findings were that of the board of directors, which voted to terminate Cargill. Cargill is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the audit. Prime Minister Perry Christie fired Moss last month after he refused to resign.

Christie had requested Moss' resignation after Moss released a lengthy press statement on New Year's Day in which he suggested the prime minister had misled the public on his possession of an NIB corporate credit card. Moss also suggested that Christie and Gibson had failed to properly defend him amid controversy surrounding NIB.

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