Board members of the Solomon Islands National Teachers Association (SINTA) Credit Union are under investigation over alleged misuse of union funds.
This came after the resignation of the credit union’s board chairman Donation Houkura and his deputy Lency Bambu.
SINTA’s acting general secretary Walter Tesuatai confirmed receiving the resignation letters of the two officials on Friday.
“Yes, I can confirm the chairman and his deputy have tendered their resignation letters,” Tesuatai said.
Documents detailing how the SINTA credit union board members allegedly misused the funds have been tendered to the Registrar of Credit Unions.
SINTA Cred Union acting general manager Ken Gala’a submitted the documents.
Gala’a in the documents stated he has lost confidence in the board of directors (BOD) of SINTA Credit Union Ltd.
“As acting general manager, I haves lost confidence in the board of directors of SINTA Credit Union Ltd. I cannot work with a board that continues in such unprudential monetary activities,” Gala’a said.
“Cash taken from Lency Bambu were arranged by the Board of Directors of SINTA Credit Union themselves and spent by them.
“It was only when they pressed us for repayment of these borrowed funds that SINTA Credit Union Ltd management knew about these borrowed cash.
“The amounts of these cash borrowings were difficult to be confirmed because they were not banked in the SINTA credit union bank account before raising payments for them.
“This unprocedural and destructive scheme must be stopped immediately by terminating this current board; any further delay will continue to put more risk on SINTA Credit Union Ltd.”
The documents said the board abused payment procedures, were dishonest, and lodged false claims.
This covers claims made by the board of directors for entertainment allowances on every public holiday on personal interest.
“On Easter Friday, the four directors claimed $8000 – $2000 each. On recent claim, the directors claimed $16,000 – $4000 each as entertainment allowances.
“Such a system of taking cash elsewhere and charging it to SINTA Credit Union Ltd, as operation expenses cannot be tolerate and must be stopped,” the documents stated.
The documents said upon repayment of the borrowed fund, additional huge amount of money calculated as interest have also been placed on top of the actual money charged to SINTA Credit Union Ltd.
Tesuatai said they have grave concern about the situation and will do everything possible to ensure justice is done.
“We may not involve directly with the SINTA credit union, but we did what is best for our members who are also members of the credit union,” Tesuatai said.
He said they are now awaiting the Minister of Finance, who is responsible for credit unions, to make a decision on the issue.
BY BRADFORD THEONOMI
