By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
WHILE the government has already started its probe into the serious allegations at NIB, Opposition leader Dr Hubert Minnis insists that minority parties ought to be given the opportunity to screen independent auditors.
Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, Dr Minnis said the move would not only ensure impartiality, but deepen democracy in the country.
His comments came in response to questions over whether the FNM would petition the government to have a representative sit among those chosen to carry out the forensic audit of NIB’s accounts. Prime Minister Perry Christie announced on Tuesday that all of the allegations that surfaced during the last few weeks would be investigated.
“The government,” said Dr Minnis, “said the audit is independent, so since it is the FNM would like to see a report when the audit is finished.
“Moving forward, the FNM, well minority parties in general, should have an opportunity to interview these so-called independent auditors.”
He declined comment on other matters saying that the party would speak more when the House of Assembly reconvenes next Wednesday.
Despite Mr Christie’s declaration to get to the bottom of the NIB fiasco by ordering the audit, political pundits are not satisfied.
They believe that while Mr Christie placed Algernon Cargill, NIB’s director on administrative leave pending the outcome of a probe on allegations made against him in a Board report which was leaked, the same fate should have been dealt to Chairman Gregory Moss.
However, Mr Christie has determined that Moss will remain on the job while the audit continues and his activity as Chairman for only a few months is scrutinised.
“I am satisfied that NIB is under no threat as it is now and so far I am concerned that we have now to move forward as aggressively as we can. I have an opportunity as Minister of Finance to look at all the observations that have been made (and) all of the allegations that have been made,”he said.
Comments
browngranville78 12 years ago
Yes, I am in agreement that the opposition should be a part of choosing an Auditing firm to look into the NIB fiasco. Also, I believe that the general public should speak out on the claims certain merchants are making on the Public Treasury concerning business loss during th current road works. In as much that I agree businesses that legitimately loose business as a result of the road works, I believe claims should be scrutinized so that persons cannot just pull a figure out of the air to say this is an amount i lost during the road works. A business like Super Value and a Service Station could easily show an good estimate of their losses, while other small businesses who probably didn't keep proper financial records could use figures from their licensing renewals to show what their Turn-Over was for at least 3years preceding 2011. Apart from this the Government should not pay one cent and more-over as far as changing the roadway back to a two-way route, this should not even be looked at as the country as a whole have to have a say in a decision like this. It is generally agreed that apart from some small changes like bus stops on Blue Hill & Market Street and all the other streets now that we have proper side walks the up-grade of the roads are a God send. The population have increased dramatically and we cannot go back to the way things were 10 years ago, so my advice is to get used to the changes. Another question is that if it is proven that Mr. Moss has been abusing his privileges at National insurance, could it be that Prime Minister Christie and Minister Gibson will resign seeing that they will be held ultimately responsible for the Affairs of National Insurance, just a thought.
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