SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A US Virgin Islands hospital fired four board members on Thursday, after a US government audit found alleged financial mismanagement and the use of taxpayers' money to fund lucrative pay packages for top administrators.

The ouster of top board members at Schneider Regional Medical Centre in St Thomas comes amid a criminal probe into the alleged misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars by the hospital's top three administrators, including CEO Amos Carty Jr.

Carty would not disclose why the board's chairman, vice chair, secretary and treasurer were dismissed from leadership roles at the medical centre - one of the largest public hospitals in the US territory. He said the hospital has cooperated with investigators.

Auditors, however, said they have been forced to issue several subpoenas during their investigation because hospital officials refused to hand over documents.

"We faced an alarming degree of secrecy and deliberate concealment of financial records that limited our ability to complete a comprehensive review," the US Department of the Interior said in its report.

Three officials are under investigation: Carty, hospital CFO Peter Najawicz, and former CEO Rodney Miller.

Miller, who resigned in November 2007 and the following month was named administrator of Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, quit the latter post on Wednesday. Hospital spokeswoman Marla Oxenhandler said he quit for personal reasons.

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