Neebing Minor Hockey Association’s (NMHA) board of directors has released a statement acknowledging that they were the victims of a recent fraud investigation in Thunder Bay.
In February a 69-year-old from Thunder Bay was charged with fraud in relation to the investigation.
Investigators found multiple transactions where funds were removed from the organization’s accounts.
The NMHA board says they discovered the situation in May of 2023 in regards to the 2021-2023 hockey seasons.
“The incident pertaining to our financials was communicated through the proper channels and after a year of trying to do what was right, ultimately reported to the Thunder Bay Police Services,” said the NMHA Board in a statement. “The investigation has resulted in the TBPS charging a former board member of our NMHA organization.”
City police are still investigating the situation.
“We have been instructed not to provide any comment at this time in order to protect the integrity of the investigation and NMHA. As spoken to previously in our response letter regarding our exclusion from LHML, NMHA Board took immediate steps to strengthen our internal financial controls and oversight to help prevent any future issues of this nature once we became aware of the situation in May of 2023.”
The organization hopes the Lakehead Minor Hockey Association (the scheduling body for leagues in the area) will revisit a decision involving removing two of NMHA’s teams from the league.
Last July, it was announced that the U11 and U13 programs had been removed from the LMHA.
At the time the NMHA highlighted financial constraints including outstanding bills from their previous season, as well as the ongoing fraud investigation.
“We hope that LHML will seek clarity and revisit this unjust exclusion, restoring NMHA Hockey to its rightful place in Thunder Bay Hockey Community.”
