Nasfund not part of court decision: CEO

 By ERIC BALARIA 

NASFUND chief executive officer Ian Tarutia says the superfund was not involved in the court’s decision not to jail former National Provident Fund (NPF) chairman Jimmy Maladina.

Maladina was convicted in August last year on charges involving the fund’s (formerly NPF) money but had his sentences suspended by the court.

Tarutia, was responding to concerns and critics over the ruling carried out following comments from social media that blamed the superfund management for being involved in the decision.

“The court is a legislative body and we have no say in the decision-making process,” Tarutia told NASFUND members and employers at a conference yesterday.

“We were only part of the process where we provided information and the courts made their decision.

“What happened was he (Maladina) repaid K2.6 million and that money was repaid to the fund in November of last year.

“But the process behind that is, when it became a matter of criminal proceedings, it had nothing to do with the fund.

“That was already a matter that was for the public prosecutor and the state to deal with.

“As part of that process before the sentencing was made, we were interviewed by the defence of Jimmy Maladina.

“In the presence of our chief legal officer, the information that we conveyed to the defence team, was that feedback from members of the fund was that they just want whatever money that was stolen from the fund to be returned. 

“The funds came back and it was treated as other funds last year as part of the distribution.”

Tarutia highlighted and assured members that the incident had allowed changes to come about with a new law being introduced to protect members’ funds.