ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — More than half the money that its former auditing firm is seeking from the $315 Del Norte Credit Union is owed for investigations the firm performed at the request of the CU's former supervisory committee, according to a legal filing.
The auditing firm, Pulakos and Alongi, has filed suit against the credit union seeking almost $50,000 in payment for service for which the CU's former supervisory committee chairman Joe Gutierrez contracted. The board expelled Gutierrez and his wife, Bertha, in February in an apparent attempt to end supervisory committee investigations for which the auditor has alleged the CU has not paid over $26,000.
"From time to time, Del Norte, through Mr. Gutierrez, would request Pulakos & Alongi to perform 'special projects," the firm wrote in its complaint. "These 'special projects' typically involved investigating potential malfeasance by the Board of Directors, the management, or employees of Del Norte. The Supervisory Committee and Mr. Gutierrez were charged by federal and state law to perform these 'special projects,'" the firm wrote.
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Reports from these "special project" investigations went straight to the supervisory committee and Pulakos & Alongi acknowledged in their contracts with the credit union that it might have to supply documents pertaining to its findings to NCUA or other regulatory authority.
Del Norte has not yet responded to calls for comment on the suit.
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