Further to a number of Editorials and stories iNews Cayman has published recently concerning the allegations of inappropriate activities at the Cayman Islands Airport Authority (CIAA), the Auditor General (Aud. Gen.), Alastair Swarbrick, gathered information to determine the nature and scope of any work that needed to be conducted in light of actions being taken by the current CIAA.

The findings of the Aud. Gen. have been made known to the board in a letter to them from his office warning them they had acted beyond their appointed role and created a significant risk that its decisions could be “conflicted or corrupt”.

Swarbrick’s letter was released under the Freedom of Information Law. The letter raised concerns not only about the board’s interference with the management, promotion and recruitment of staff, but a requirement imposed by the board on management that it must approve all of the businesses given work at the airport – a direct conflict of interest.

The Aud. Gen. points to the separation of responsibilities between the board and management to ensure a good corporate governance framework and writes:

“From our review of its minutes and our audit of operations, we found that the Board has engaged in an operational capacity beyond its role as an oversight body. The operations of the board create a conflict of interest that results in a significant breakdown of the organisation’s management control framework. This has created a significant risk that decisions and transactions of the organisation could be conflicted or corrupt.”

The report lists a host of concerns including:

Directors of the board sitting on project evaluation (procurement) committees to the board’s approval for the promotion of staff or an increase in salaries

Directors of the board sitting in on interviews below senior management level

Failure of the airport management to properly tender all its contracts over $50,000

Failure to have contracts signed

A number of discrepancies

The Board’s decision to sign an exclusive talks deal with a Canadian company to redevelop the airport was unlawful and did not meet the requirements of the Public Management and Finance Law.

“Beyond approving the operational policies for the organisation, the hiring of the chief executive officer and setting out its expectations for performance, the development of a strategic direction and the approval of an annual operational plan,” Swarbrick writes, “the board should only be receiving reports and making decisions that are the purview of its mandate.”

Last month former CIAA CEO Jeremy Jackson was sacked by the board following the exposure of a report undertaken by the members that revealed serious mismanagement at the airport including misuse of public money, boozy lunches for on duty staff, flying lessons for an employee running a private flight school, unexplained thefts, and hundreds of thousands of dollars appearing to be misappropriated.