Nunavut
The president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) says his board of directors jumped the gun in suspending him for ringing up nearly $52,000 in debt on the corporate credit card, and that he could have explained the debt if he was given the chance.

"In my own opinion, we have a process that wasn't followed before they go to this level," Paul Kaludjak told Nunavut News/North on Sunday.

He said he could have sat down with the finance department and explained all the charges, which he says go back to 2008 and are 90 per cent made up of meals.

"A lot of the stuff they deemed I have to pay is meeting related," he said.

Kaludjak said the normal process was that "you justify each item line by line - we do that at the executive level, in person."

"I wanted to get together and go through the list and if they have concerns, (hear from the board) which ones they were."

"If they disagreed on a line item I have no problem paying for it."

"I've got nothing to hide," he said.

A resolution suspending Kaludjak, as of today, was passed by the NTI board of directors on Aug. 26 following a "confidential briefing on NTI President's visa account" according to the text of the resolution, which is posted on the NTI website. His suspension will be in effect until Oct. 30.

"NTI will recover from the President the amount of $51,893.58 before June 30, 2011 through garnishment of wages or other periodical payments," read the resolution.

Kaludjak said many of those expenses could be the result of a misunderstanding about what sort of things NTI will pay for. Kaludjak said that prior to 2004, when he was voted in, it was generally accepted that meals the president would share with his guests, most of which are beneficiaries, would be covered and it was accepted that the president's family could be on the guest list from time to time.

"A lot of times they were with me and maybe that's the issue with the board," he said.

He said if this is no longer the case, he would have paid those costs - but no one had mentioned anything about the charges until just before his suspension."

"I was pretty surprised and shocked to hear about it a week before the board meeting," he said.

He said it will not be a problem if he has to pay back some of the money, and he would have at any point if the finance department had pointed out that the charges were inappropriate.

The worst part of this, Kaludjak said, is how hard it is for his family to deal with accusations of misusing the credit card before he got a chance to tell his side.

"I apologize to the beneficiaries for this being outstanding and there's been nothing on my part deliberately to break the policy at hand."

He said he hopes this can be resolved soon so he can resume his duties.

Acting as president in place of suspended president Paul Kaludjak will be vice-president James Eetoolook. NTI communications director Franco Buscemi told Nunavut News/North Eetoolook would not be available to speak on the matter until today.

This is not the first time a president of the land claims organization has been in trouble for racking up huge charges on the NTI credit card.

Former NTI president Paul Quassa stepped down from his post in June, 2001, after the organization suspended him for more than $35,000 in unexplained charges on the NTI credit card.

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