Minister for Finance and Treasury, Gordon Darcy Lilo, has revealed why he terminated the Solomon Airlines former Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Lilo stated that the termination was based largely on the mismanagement of the company's finances and assets. Mr Lilo said he called for an investigation after the former Solomon Airlines CEO signed a consent letter for "Our Airline" from Nauru to fly the country's lucrative Brisbane Honiara route without his knowledge or consent. Lilo said that the former CEO should have protected the route as it was the most lucrative route for the Solomon Airlines. Lilo said that the former CEO instead gave it up to other competitors.Mr Lilo went on to say that upon further investigations into the company's accounts, certain discrepancies appeared such as huge expenditures that should have been featured in the profit and loss accounts being capitalized as assets and appeared in the company's capital accounts. Mr Lilo also stated that the investigations also showed that certain assets never existed amongst company assets.
Mr Lilo also revealed that the former CEO also rented a house, paid for by the company, for his children. Lilo said that such practices resulted in huge misappropriation amounting to millions of dollars.