The business manager for three different corporations has been fired and an independent investigation is underway amid accusations the employee had embezzled money.
Aleknagik Natives Ltd. board president Molly Chythlook confirmed Tuesday that Fred Nishimura had been fired.
Court documents from a lawsuit filed against Nishimura this year show a judgment for Panarqukuk Inc. in the amount of $56,682, which includes $52,900 from 39 checks the corporation said Nishimura wrote to himself over the course of 10 months in 2014.
Chythlook and Jim Vollintine, an attorney representing all three for-profit corporations, said an internal review of records is underway.
Other details of embezzled funds may be made public when that is complete, they said.
The lawsuit said Nishimura was an “independent contractor who performed bookkeeping services … under an oral contract.”
Nishimura denied accusations that he had taken any money beyond what he was owed for services reached by phone Wednesday morning.
He said he may seek legal help to clear up the matters he described as misunderstandings.
Nishiumura has been the business manager for Aleknagik Native Ltd. since “the early ’80s,” according to Chythlook.
