AGRICULTURE and Fisheries Minister Derrick Kellier is insisting that his ministry took immediate action to address the situation at the National People’s Co-operative Bank of Jamaica (NPCB) as soon as he was made aware by the Agricultural Credit Board (ACB) about what have now been publicly exposed as alarming breaches in operations at the bank.

Speaking at a press conference at the ministry in Kingston yesterday, Kellier, like his Permanent Secretary Donovan Stanberry, has over the past week, maintained that the institution is a private bank which has no government representation on its board and operates independently of the ministry.

“While the Government is not the owner of the National People’s Co-operative Bank, we have always taken our regulatory role seriously, and based on weaknesses observed over time, the Government has proactively sought to strengthen the regulatory regime.”

Kellier dismissed what he said was the “parading” of the audit as a “great discovery”, calling media reports disingenuous and unethical. He pointed out that all the issues uncovered were as a result of “astute surveillance” by the ACB and its partner agencies, and “the result of quick action on my part to unearth the true situation by virtue of the commissioning of the audit”.

He also chided the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) of Parliament for discussing the audit at the time it did. “It was wholly inappropriate to have discussed that matter at the PAAC meeting last Wednesday, even while the minister who commissioned the audit was being briefed,” Kellier said.

It was at a sitting of that committee that some of the findings of the audit were brought to light when Opposition spokesman on finance, Audley Shaw asked Stanberry searching questions about the operations of the NPCB and the results of the audit.

Yesterday, the agriculture minister said he was not attempting to “sugar-coat” the gravity of the situation at the bank, but at the same time said the $665 million in deposits which was being “bandied about” as being unaccounted for, had been used “inappropriately” to acquire fixed assets and also for operational expenses.

The ACB itself has described the amount in question as “unaccounted for”, whilst the audit categorised the funds as being “not substantiated”. The minister was unable to make an effective differentiation.

Chairman of the ACB Hugh Graham explained that some $400 million of the amount had apparently been invested in fixed assets.

In the meantime, he said the ACB has moved to take some form of action, although no criminal charges have been brought against any director at the institution.

Several directors have been suspended and the board of the bank has effectively been dissolved and its operations taken over by the ACB. The manager of the bank has been sent on leave, and loans to directors have been suspended.

“Going forward, we are looking at a restructured organisation. We recognise that there are some fundamental problems that are wrong with the model and we are seeking to address that. We will not have a repeat of this situation,” Graham said.