Shuswap Indian Band members are heading to the polls Nov. 8 to elect a new council and chief as a RCMP investigation into how a previous council handled band funds gets underway.

Seven band members were nominated Sept. 27 to run for the three seats on council, including incumbents Chief Barbara Cote and councilors Rosalita Pascal and Timothy Eugene.

Also nominated are: Dean Martin; Clarissa Stevens; Lawrence Thomas and Dorothy Warbrick.

Casting a national spotlight on an election covering about 100 residents is yesterday’s announcement that the RCMP has launched an investigation into the handling of finances by the former Shuswap First Nation council, led for more than 30 years by Paul Sam, Dean Martin’s former employer when he served as chief executive officer of Kinbasket Development Corp., and father.

According to a forensic audit reported by Postmedia News the investigation is looking into how a single family allegedly used roughly $4.2 million of band funds over 3.5 years.

“The Shuswap First Nation’s transfers to the family, and payment for trips to Las Vegas and Cuba ended in November 2014, when the family was voted out of office after Postmedia’s disclosures. In July, the federal government-funded Ernst & Young audit was provided to the 100 band members who live on the reserve on the outskirts of Invermere near the B.C.-Alberta border. The 13-page report was also handed over to the Mounties,” Postmedia reported.

“It is under RCMP investigation,” Chief Barbara Cote and her two councillors said in a recent written statement to members.

“Martin, who could not be reached for comment, received just under $1.4 million between April, 2011, and November, 2014, according to the audit. That amount, tax-free because Martin worked on-reserve, is the equivalent of $2.5 million if he had paid income taxes, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Paul Sam, who was in his 80s and confined to a wheelchair, got $741,262, the equivalent of $1.3 million, while Alice Sam, who served as the band’s bookkeeper, got $690,481, or just over $1.2 million,” Postmedia reported.

“There was “general and widespread lack of supporting documentation,” Ernst & Young concluded in the July audit, noting inadequate proof that expenditures were reviewed to ascertain the business purpose of the transaction.”

Alice Sam, Laverna Stevens and Cecilia Teneese later withdrew their nominations. Richard Martin also withdrew his nomination but did so after the ballots had been printed. Votes cast for him will not be counted, reported electoral officer Gerry Hutchison.

– Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

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