Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Spence Bay (Feb 25/02) - Government officials are still in the process of updating the hamlet of Taloyoak's financial records.

Mike Rafter, director of finance for the Department of Community Government and Transportation, said last week that officials are bringing the books up to date with the end goal of evaluating the former acting senior administrator's accounting procedures.

The audit was ordered by the department last month after the acting SAO, Cecil Matthews, was sentenced to nine months in prison in Alberta. He had pleaded guilty to 21 counts of fraud, forgery and theft.

While Matthews perpetrated the crimes in Alberta in 1998, he eluded police and never showed up for his trial. He surfaced in Nunavut in 2000 and was employed for the hamlet of Taloyoak.

He also held a few different positions within the department.

Police learned of the Alberta warrant for his arrest following an impaired driving charge in Taloyoak on Jan. 11. Officers arrested Matthews in Cambridge Bay Jan. 12 and sent him to Alberta to answer to the charges.

Rafter said that, given Matthews' record and the hamlet's $478,129 deficit at the end of fiscal 2001, the government concluded it was necessary to take a closer look at the numbers.

"The books are in arrears. We're just catching them up," explained Rafter.

"The next phase will be to evaluate or render an opinion whether or not there were any financial improprieties," he said. "It's difficult to offer an opinion when things are not up to date."

He said once the balance sheet is tallied, experts will be able to quickly state whether or not Matthews broke any regulations or laws.

Rafter would not speculate on what created the deficit.

"It's difficult to respond to that. There could be a number of factors. When we finalize this, it will be clear what contributed to it," he said.

Meanwhile, as bean-counters continued their work, Minister Manitok Thompson said her department plans to work more closely with the hamlets to ensure such situations don't arise in the future. Thompson said she has already met with her staff and told them to more closely monitor and support hamlet financial workers.

"We can't wait six months and find out the hamlets are falling apart," said Thompson. "I told my staff they have to travel to the communities and start helping out," she said.