Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Bradley Roberts says the National Insurance Board (NIB) debacle is just another mess the former Ingraham administration left behind for the PLP to clean-up.

In a press statement yesterday, Mr. Roberts said that Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham can hide from the media all he wants, but it is a mess that he helped to create.

The Christie administration spent more than $800,000 on a forensic audit following a string of allegations that Algernon Cargill abused his power as NIB director and engaged in misconduct.

Mr. Roberts said he strongly believes the Free National Movement (FNM) is ‘culpable’ and must be held accountable.

“The audit findings and more importantly, the incoherent ramblings from the culpable leadership of the FNM underscore their duplicity, complicity and leadership deficit on issues on integrity in government, accountability and stewardship,” he said.

“There is no acceptance of responsibility or accountability; no public apology or gesture of atonement on the part of the FNM leadership, only distractions and deflections away from this major failure in governance.”

The chairman once again quoted the former prime minister when he said, “I hired Cargill. I thought he did a wonderful job at NIB….We left the place [NIB] in good shape.”

Mr. Roberts bashed FNM Chairman Darron Cash as well as Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis for making “ill-advised comments” as the entire audit ordeal unfolded.

“At all material times, the facts on the NIB matter remained constant, but Dr. Minnis managed to change his position three times without accepting responsibility,” he said.

“The fact is Dr. Minnis sat around the Cabinet table when the National Insurance Act was violated by the board and the NIB director and based on the Westminster principle of collective responsibility, Dr. Minnis is culpable and must account to the Bahamian people.”

He added that for his own sake, it’s best that the FNM leader not hold a convention anytime in the near future.

As for Mr. Cash, Mr. Roberts believes most Bahamians by now may have dismissed him as lacking credibility.

“It is inexcusable and unbelievable that a purported professional accountant would see nothing wrong with the obvious lack of corporate governance and wanton disregard for standard accounting practices as reported in the NIB audit,” he said.

Mr. Roberts said the PLP wholly trusts Prime Minister Perry Christie, NIB Minister Shane Gibson and NIB Chairman Fr. James Moultrie to safeguard the assets of NIB and restore public trust and confidence in one of the country’s most important institutions.