Suspended NTI president has until jan. 31 to raise $28,000
Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Nov 27/00) - Paul Quassa says he will pay back the $28,000 he owes to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. before the Jan. 31 deadline.
Several weeks of controversy ended in Arviat when delegates to the NTI annual meeting voted to reinstate the suspended president if he repays the debt he ran up on the corporate credit card.
The resolution has a deadline of Jan. 31 attached to it, however, Quassa can return to office as soon as the money is paid back.
Acting president James Eetoolook said only Quassa knows exactly what the money was spent on, but he said when Quassa presented his case to the delegation, they were told it was used to "support his family."
The resolution stipulates that all future expenditures by the president must comply with NTI's bylaws, policies and procedures.
Quassa was first suspended with pay on Oct. 31 after NTI's financial records showed that he had been withdrawing large sums of money with the corporate credit card and that he had fallen behind on filing travel expenses and petty cash receipts.
The numbers first released indicated that he owed upwards of $36,000 to the birthright corporation, but Quassa insists it was far less than that.
"When this first started coming out they were saying numbers for extravagant sums of money and I knew I didn't owe that much," he said.
"I knew a lot of that money was spent for NTI business purposes and I've handed in the receipts to prove that."
"I will definitely be back in office before the Jan. 31 deadline that the delegation has set," he said.
"I do apologize for everything that was said during the last two weeks, but it was a very stressful and emotional time for me.
"I'm very relieved, and I'm sure the beneficiaries are too, that this is finally over, to a certain extent."
Should Quassa not meet the Jan. 31 deadline, he will automatically be removed as president.
