The Investment Corporation of Solomon Islands Board terminated the recently appointed Financial Controller of Solomon Airlines, Bouro Koraua, for breaching Civil Aviation Safety regulations.

The ICSI board of directors stated that while there is some positive progress with the financial management of the company, there continues to be some failures reflected in the safety of Air Services operations, resulting in the suspension of services on Wednesday.

"The financial controller was found to be in breach of Civil Aviation Safety Regulations for not complying with the airlines Accountable Manager Mr Ron Sumsum," a statement from the board said.

The board further stressed that Mr Bouro claimed he was only answerable to the airline board and carried out his responsibilities independent of the existing Civil Aviation safety requirements that demanded full compliance to established regulations.

"Non adherence is regarded as a safety risk to the airline operations," the board said.

The Director of Civil Aviation had confirmed the situation in a letter to the chairman of the airlines board on November 6. "Following subsequent enquiries by the ICSI board - a decision was made to uphold the termination of the financial controller in order to ensure the airline flight services could be resumed," the Board said.

ICSI as a 100 percent shareholder of the company has a legitimate responsibility to ensure that all matters of compliance are maintained for the safety of the traveling public without jeopardy to services and the overall viability of the company.

ICSI said further investigations will continue into the breach of civil aviation safety regulations by the financial controller including possible implications linking the airlines board of directors.

Meanwhile, in an interview with One News last night, Mr Koraua stated that the Director of Civil Aviation owed an apology to the people of Solomon Islands for not telling the truth. Koraua maintained that the grounding of the domestic fleet and his subsequent termination as financial controller had nothing to do with breaching safety regulations. "You can check with our local engineers at the Henderson Airport," said Koraua.

"We completed audits for the past few years and were now focusing on 2006 and I can tell you that a lot of people were getting uncomfortable with what we were going to uncover."