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they call this disclosure?the KSA continues to ignore the Supreme Court Order...
Posted: October 5, 2006
As readers of this site will know, in August 2006, a Supreme Court of British Columbia order was agreed to by the current KSA administration, and paragraph 13 of this order stated...
"13. The Interim Council shall meet on or before Friday, September 1, 2006 and every two (2) weeks thereafter, and shall be provided with current and complete financial information, including, but not limited to:
a. The current budget of the KSA and what has been spent to date;
b. The current assets and obligations of the KSA; and
c. A list of all bank accounts held by the KSA, including any capital, mortgage, investment or credit accounts, and current bank statements for each.
As revealed in an article posted here on September 20, 2006, titled "KSA failing to live up to Supreme Court Order", no financial information has been released to the Interim Board or to the students of Kwantlen as made evident agendas and minutes that have been made available so far (some are also online at kusa.ca) including the latest September 29, 2006 agenda and minutes...
Since the September 20 posting, "KSA failing to live up to Supreme Court Order", Interim Board Member and former KSA Treasurer, Joey Atwal has made two attempts to live up to the Supreme Court order, as evident by the following e-mails and e-mail attachments:
The statements and information that has been provided to date is very weak and vague indeed. The Current Bank Statements (which have been Temporarily Removed Due to a Ruling of the CRO) in particular are rather weak as they:
- do not show what money has been used for;and
- reveal only that numerous cheques and transfers (totaling more than $xxx,xxx) have been made between August 1, 2006 and October 5, 2006.
Furthermore, as evident by the above agendas and minutes, no record of who authorized the expenditures of these funds has been given. Certainly, no money motions of any significance has ever come forward to the Board of Directors since the Reduce All Fees - New Student Vision Party came to power. This would appear to be in violation of Paragraph 11 of the Supreme Court Order, which states...
Until the New Council takes office on November 1, 2006, the Interim Council may not disburse or approve the disbursement of any funds nor enter into any contracts other than in the ordinary course of business for the day-to-day operations of the KSA, or such funds as are necessary for the conduct of the General Election, including retaining the CRO;
With the information released so far, there is absolutely no way to tell whether or not any of the transactions constitute "the ordinary course of business for the day-to-day operations of the KSA." If the KSA were truly serious about becoming more open and transparenet, they would:
- immediately disclose to the student body information regarding how this money was used (including who received money and why);
- provide information on who approved these expenditures;
- take action against any individual who spent or misused funding outside the authority of the KSA Fiscal Bylaws and Regulations, by either:
- requiring them to resign;
- fire them;
- or be place them on suspension - either with or without pay - depending on the evidence that exists, until a thorough and proper investigation into the transactions can be conducted.
In his October 5 correspondence, Mr. Atwal again made it very clear that he does not want this information released to individuals who are not listed as voting members of the KSA's Interim Board of Directors. Specifically, he states...
"I am sending these documents to you outside of an in camera session, unlike what I would prefer, however, I trust that these documents will not be used for personal and/or political gain. They have strictly given to you as directors of the society in order to fulfill your fiduciary duty to the KSA. I would hope that you use extreme care with these documents, as sending them to you raises concerns with me as to how they will be used against the society and/or other directors."
But given the fact that little to no financial information has been released by the KSA since the Reduce All Fees / New Student Vision Party took power in May 2005, it is very important that students have a chance to see what little information the KSA has released.
This can be safely done under the authority granted to students who are members of the KSA by the Society Act of British Colubmia, which states...
Accounting records
36 (1) A society must keep proper accounting records in respect of all its financial and other transactions.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), a society must keep records of the following:
(a) all money received and disbursed by the society and the matter in respect of which the receipt and disbursement took place;
(b) every asset and liability of the society;
(c) every other transaction affecting the financial position of the society.
Inspection by members
37 Unless otherwise provided in the bylaws, the documents, including the accounting records, of a society must be open to the inspection of a director or member on reasonable notice to the society."
Also, all of the above documents appear as exhibits to affidavits as submitted by various indivduals involved in the new petition regarding the aforementioned Supreme Court Order. So, in spite of Mr. Atwal's warnings and concerns, the above documents are technically already a part of the public domain, accessible and viewable by anyone.
Only time will tell if the KSA will disclose further details of its true financial status. All Kwantlen students should come out to future KSA meetings to demand this disclosure by the officials it elected in January 2006.
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