The Executive Director of the South Dakota Board of Regents says the man at the center of the EB-5 visa controversy was not authorized to sign the contracts he did, and did not disclose his conflicts of interest.

Jack Warner is appearing before the Government Operations and Audit Committee of the South Dakota Legisature.

Joop Bollen was the head of the South Dakota International Business Institute at Northern State University, and later signed a contract with the South Dakota Regional Center to handle the funds flowing from foreign investors.

Warner says it appears Bollen ignored the rules they have for signing contracts…

 

Warner said they also have conflict of interest rules in place, which Bollen did not comply with…

 

Warner says their financial controls did not kick in because no money was requested for SDRC…

 

The hearing is continuing in Pierre.