Fonseca Confirms NICH Employee Fired After Funds Went Missing  

A routine audit has now led to disciplinary action at one of the country’s cultural institutions. Minister of Culture Francis Fonseca has confirmed that a NICH employee has been dismissed after investigators uncovered unauthorized withdrawals and payments involving National Celebrations Commission funds. The discovery came during an audit that found thousands of dollars unaccounted for, prompting an internal investigation. Today, Fonseca revealed that one of the employees allegedly involved has been terminated and that the missing funds have since been repaid. Here’s more on what the audit uncovered.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture

“ This is my first day back, so I haven’t gotten a briefing on that as yet. But as soon as I do, I’ll be able to report to you. But yes, I’m, as I understand it I don’t know if it’s forty-five thousand, but I think obviously an audit was done, conducted. That audit discovered that there were some inaccuracies in terms of funds. And that was addressed. But I have to get an update on what has been happening since I was away.”

 

Britney Gordon

“Can you confirm if those two employees that were allegedly involved have been placed on leave?”

 

Francis Fonseca

“Yeah, I can confirm that I think one of them no longer works at NICH. So that relationship has been terminated. And I think the other one who I think in terms of the audit indicated that person played a much less significant role a secondary role in the entire process. That person was simply was placed on leave and of course paid back all of the money that was identified as being misappropriated. And that person was then, I think, transferred to another position.”

 

Britney Gordon

“As it’s celebration times we just saw the launch of the theme coming up. These funds are quite important to the events that we want to host. How can we ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again?”

 

Francis Fonseca

“Yeah we’ve As I said, It was discovered through an audit. And everything has been done to ensure that there is a clear process in place to make sure that does not happen in the future.”

 

Fonseca did not confirm how much money went missing, however, it is reported to be over forty-five thousand dollars.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: