The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE release of the audit reports into the operations at NIB are now solely hinged upon the substantiation of certain “adverse findings” by suspended NIB director Algernon Cargill.

This new revelation came to light as National Insurance Minister Shane Gibson explained why the report had yet to be laid on the table as promised yesterday at the House of Assembly.

The Minister had for weeks assured reporters that the document would become public record when Parliament convened this week.

With that, Mr Gibson said there is no telling when the forensic audit will be made available for public scrutiny.

However, when contacted Mr Cargill told The Tribune that he had yet to receive any communication from Mr Gibson or the forensic auditors.

He said that someone from NIB came to his house yesterday while he was out. The person was directed to the offices of Mr Alfred Sears, Mr Cargill’s lawyer. However, Mr Sears is out of town until May 6.

“We are giving Mr Cargill an opportunity to respond,” Mr Gibson said, “we thought there was sufficient adverse findings in the report that required a response from him before NIB decides what their next step is.

“So as soon as he has had an opportunity to respond, which is 14 days, and the board has had an opportunity to make a decision as to how they will proceed then the report will be tabled in Parliament.

“We have written to him and sent him a copy of the report, along with his lawyers. As soon as they had an opportunity to review it and respond we’ll go from there.”

The release delay comes as no surprised to the Opposition, FNM Chairman Darron Cash said.

Mr Cash believes that the government is attempting to place a spin on the results of the investigations with the excessive delay.

“No one should be surprised that the Minister of National Insurance has not delivered the forensic accounting report as promised,” Mr Cash said. “That is because no one can take anything his government says at face value. They are impressive at talking and complete failures at governing.

“In the time that it has taken them to read the external auditor’s report a junior accountant could have completed another audit.

“The only reasonable conclusion one can draw from the excessive delay is that they are trying to find some face saving way to spin a report that does not provide the juicy indictments they were hoping for.”

The probe into the Board’s operations took flight.