Scandal rocks NIB

Mon, Dec 30th 2013, 11:47 AM

The National Insurance Board (NIB), the organization charged with administering the social security program, was under scrutiny in late 2012 and much of 2013 as the government probed hefty bonus payments to board members and other alleged financial abuses.
The government ordered a forensic audit of NIB's accounts after then Chairman Gregory Moss wrote a lengthy letter to National Insurance Minister Shane Gibson last year November, advising that the board had voted to fire former NIB Director Algernon Cargill.
In that letter, Moss outlined a series of damning allegations against Cargill.
Cargill was placed on leave pending the outcome of the audit. He filed suit against NIB and Moss.
The prime minister fired Moss in early January, saying a statement he released to the media made the prospect of keeping his job "untenable".
Before Moss' termination, Christie wrote to Moss requesting his resignation, noting that he had shown "disregard for the kind of collegiality, mutual respect, and sense of collaborative endeavor that are so essential to the governance of the country".
Moss released the lengthy statement on New Year's Day revealing that he still had an NIB-issued credit card, which Christie had previously told reporters Moss no longer had in his possession.
Allegations about the misuse of the card were outlined in Cargill's affidavit.
Moss refused to resign.
He stated in a letter sent to the prime minister that resigning would give the impression that he did something wrong.
Moss was appointed chairman of NIB last year July.
Following his firing, the former NIB chairman said he had no regrets over what had transpired.
After a nearly four-month investigation, Grant Thornton, the accounting firm contracted to conduct the forensic audit, handed over its reports on March 24.
Gibson called the findings "shocking", but it would be weeks before the government released the findings.
According to information on NIB's files, eight NIB executives and one person on contract collectively received bonuses of $723,333 between January 2010 and May 2012.
That information also indicated that Cargill took home $194,791.66 in bonuses during that period.
Cargill said the bonuses and salaries had the approval of NIB's human resources committee and then Chairman Patrick Ward.
When the report was finally released, the public learnt that accountants had found the bonuses appeared to have been improperly paid to Cargill and other executives.
That probe also highlighted reported irregularities in the award of certain NIB contracts for various projects.
The investigation found no negative conclusions into allegations made against Moss by Cargill.
But Cargill charged that the accountants who carried out the review into allegations against him left out crucial evidence in their report.
Amid controversy surrounding the reported irregularities, the board of NIB voted on May 15 to fire Cargill.
It was the second time that the board voted to fire Cargill within a seven-month period.
The exact cost of the forensic audit was $861,606, according to the government.
Gibson said while it was "regrettable" that taxpayers had to foot a nearly $1 million bill for the investigation, the probe was needed to shed light on accusations of corruption within NIB.
The government pledged to put mechanisms in place to prevent manipulation and abuse at NIB.
The government also assured that the National Insurance Fund was at no point threatened.
In July, attorney Rowena Bethel, a former legal advisor in the Ministry of Finance and a legal counsel at NIB, was announced as NIB's new director.
Anglican Priest Father James Moultrie was appointed as chairman shortly after Moss was fired.

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