IQALUIT, Nunavut - Nunavut's former finance minister, who resigned over concerns he failed to disclose his involvement in a business that received a loan from a government lending agency, has been found in violation of the territory's Integrity Act.
But integrity commissioner Robert Stanbury says he believes David Simailak's assertion that the breach was an unintentional oversight.
"I am prepared to accept the honourable member's word that his failure was inadvertent and not deliberate," Stanbury wrote in a decision sent to the territory's Speaker earlier this week.
Still, Stanbury recommended Simailak's fellow members reprimand him for his conduct and that he apologize in the legislature.
Simailak, who represents the community of Baker Lake, recently told a legislative committee that when he was elected in 2004 he had declared interests in three companies that received loans from the Nunavut Business Credit Corp.
But reports revealed that Simailak had declared his interest in only two of the companies.
He did not list his role in Kangiqliniq Developments Ltd., a subsidiary of a larger firm which Simailak did tell the legislature about.
Kangiqliniq received a $1-million loan in 2005 for real estate development, corporation records show. The development company also has two property leases with the territorial government.
Simailak told Stanbury that he mistakenly entered the name of the building on the disclosure form instead of Kangiqliniq Developments, which owned the building.
Simailak resigned as finance minister Dec. 11 over the controversy but has retained his seat in the legislature.
The corporation is in the process of extensive restructuring after a scathing assessment by federal auditor general Sheila Fraser.
She wrote in a report in November that the corporation had no policies governing the awarding of loans. She also said that virtually all files were missing information, and there was little attempt to assess an applicant's creditworthiness or the viability of a business.
Funds were released without proof they were used for the intended purpose and loan repayment went unmonitored for years, she said.
Since Fraser's report, three members of the corporation's board have resigned and its books referred to the RCMP for investigation. Lending has resumed, with several deputy ministers now sitting on the corporation's board.
PREVIOUS
