IQALUIT - While the Auditor General may have cleared the financial statements of the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation for their 2009-2010 books, its chief executive officer said she is not sure how and if they can recover the money from all the overdue loan payments.

Peter Taptuna, minister responsible for NBCC: "It's been a long and hard road getting to this point for NBCC." - NNSL file photo

"We're hoping to recover all the money," said Sherri Rowe, CEO and board member.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser's office gave the okay to the corporation's board of directors on April 8 for statements up until March 31, 2010.

The corporation is run by the territory and supports and promotes economic growth, development and employment by giving loans to small and medium size businesses. Loans and guarantees can range between $150,000 and $1,000,000.

In November 2007, Fraser blasted the corporation's mismanagement of their books for the 2005-2006 financial year.

"It's been a long and hard road getting to this point for NBCC," said Peter Taptuna, minister responsible for the corporation.

Taptuna said when the headquarters was in Cape Dorset until 2008, a lot of the files were missing and lacked information.

Chair of the corporation's board of directors Greg Cayen said the problems can be categorized into three issues:

"Proper books weren't maintained, loan files were incomplete and complicated auditing issues were not addressed," he said.

In April 2010, Rowe was hired as CEO.

The corporation is now fully staffed with six positions. Cayen said Rowe is working full-time in her position and is not acting on a temporary basis from the Department of Finance as was done in the past.

Taptuna said administrative, loans and policy manuals have all been redone.

"So we don't get back into the situations where loans are going bad, we do have security in place that didn't exist in the past," he said.

Credit training, Cayen said, has been given to the board and staff, the finance committee meets with Rowe monthly and a committee reviews every loan application and renewal. Reports are prepared for the board's approval.

"The whole governance structure is completely revamped," he said.

In September, a strategic planning workshop will held. The corporation will also work on marketing, strategic and communications plans.

At the end of the physical year on March 31, 2010, Rowe said the corporation's loan balance was approximately $13 million. Their loan balance was up to $15 million and is capped at $25 million.

"We've never been up that high yet," she said.

Approximately 47 businesses are getting loans.

In 2009/2010 most of the loans went out to companies and businesses in construction, retail and hospitality.

Breaking it down by region, $7.5 million went to businesses in the Qikiqtalik region, $3.5 million to the Kivalliq and $1.4 million to the Kitikmeot.

Cayen said now before they distribute any money, they consult legal consel.

When it comes to getting the money back from overdue loans, Rowe said she is helping the clients make arrangements so NBCC can get their funds.

The RCMP is currently doing an investigation on NBCC. Taptuna said NBCC cannot comment on it until it is complete.

In relation to the mismanagement of the corporation's books, Baker Lake MLA David Simailak resigned from cabinet in December 2007 and he was found by an Integrity Commissioner in September 2008 to have breached the Integrity Act and was fined $5,000.

When it came to former staff, one CEO of the corporation faced theft and fraud charges when he was hired and another CEO was hired by the Government of Nunavut despite the fact he told them he was not qualified for the job.

Members of the public will have access to the corporation's financial statements for 2009-2010 at the spring sitting of the Legislature slated to start on May 31.

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