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Four dismissed at NI Water over contracts Northern Ireland's regional development minister, Conor Murphy, has sacked chairman Chris Mellor and three non-executive directors from the board of Northern Ireland Water (NIW). The dismissals follow an investigation into procurement practices at the firm jointly commissioned by NIW and the Department for Regional Development after an internal audit in January revealed possible failures to the board. The probe revealed "a serious breakdown in the governance and control framework" of how contracts were awarded at the company. The non-executive directors expelled are John Ballard, Ruth Thompson and Declan Gormley. Mellor had told the review team that NIW chief executive Laurence MacKenzie no longer had the "trust and confidence of the board and that this position was now irreconcilable". However, the review team recommended that MacKenzie should remain in position. MacKenzie said: "My commitment to ensuring that appropriate financial controls are in place within NIW is absolute." Consumer Council for Northern Ireland chief executive Antoinette McKeown said: "Consumers have the right to know the financial implications of this mismanagement. They need to know that they are getting the best possible value for their money and the reality now is they don't know." She called for "an immediate investigation at senior management level so that executives involved in mismanagement are also made accountable". The company's economic regulator, NIAUR, said the sackings were "evidence of a commitment to sound governance". Source: Utility Week © Faversham House Group Ltd 2010. News articles may be copied or forwarded
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