By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
OFFICIALS have still not received the highly anticipated report that is expected to reveal the inner-workings of the National Insurance Board in the lead up to several damaging allegations that were leaked months ago, Minister Shane Gibson confirmed yesterday.
While The Tribune confirmed that the government-contracted auditors at Grant Thornton Bahamas were putting the finishing touches on the report, Mr Gibson said he expected to have the document on his desk by Friday.
The report, promised for nearly two months, has been delayed as auditors were continuously finding out “new bits and pieces that they felt needed to be shared with the public,” Mr Gibson said.
But those setbacks, the NIB Minister told reporters following the morning House session, will come at an additional cost to taxpayers. Although he was not able to say how much the government would have to spend, he said the information would be made available when the findings of the report were made public.
When asked if he was able to say if any of the information in the report was “damaging” to either suspended NIB director Algernon Cargill, himself or axed board chairman Gregory Moss, Mr Gibson said he could not.
“I really don’t have any idea,” Mr Gibson said, “because they have not given me any information of what the conclusion of the report will be all about. All they said was that it was a lot of information that they had to go through. They had to go through huge boxes with all sorts of information to make sure that they were able to report the kind of substance it deserves.
He could neither say if Mr Cargill would be reinstated.
“I don’t know the details of the audit. It could be two pages, 10 or 100 pages. It may take us a while to go through it. It may not be clear, we may need legal advice and so for me really to do you better justice I would have to have the audit in my hand and then, of course, go through the AG who is my attorney. Then we’ll make a decision as to where we’ll go from there.”
An audit into the accounts at NIB was undertaken after a 22-page letter written by Mr Moss with scathing allegations against Mr Cargill was leaked.
Mr Cargill was later suspended pending the outcome of the audit. Not long after, Mr Cargill filed suit against NIB and Mr Moss.
Later, Mr Moss was fired as chairman of the Board by Prime Minister Perry Christie when he refused to resign.
Comments
JohnDoe 11 years, 1 month ago
What a waste of taxpayers money this is turning out to be. The mere fact that these auditors at this stage are now considering “new bits and pieces that they felt needed to be shared with the public,” leads me to conclude that the probative value of this report should be viewed with great scepticism. While an auditor may have the skill set and competence to perform a financial audit, an internal controls audit and a well defined agreed upon procedures audit, I am sceptical as to whether they have the skill set or competence to conduct a fact finding enquiry, particularly when it appears that the actual objectives, criteria and methodology have not been properly defined which opens the door for them to be cherry picking which new bits of information they feel needs to be shared with the public.
proudloudandfnm 11 years, 1 month ago
So you don't think Messrs Christie and Gomez of Grant Thornton have the neccessary skill sets to audit operational procedures? Seriously? You mean Mr. Christe the leader of the PLP hired Messrs Christie and Gomez of Grant Thornton for no particular reason? WOnder if Mr Christie and Gomez of Grant Thornton objected when they were hired?
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