Chairman Lois Young called it insider trading because she claims those persons used their inside knowledge that government was preparing a mortgage forgiveness programme to get their balances under the fifty thousand dollar threshold.

Solid information says that CEO Merlene Bailey Martinez did this - as early as November - and others followed. So Bailey-Martinez has been suspended along with the internal auditor Denise Mahler. We could not confirm if Mahler participated - or simply failed to report the irregularity, or both.

Chairman Lois Young says they will remain on suspension for two weeks or until an independent investigation is completed. In the meantime, we understand there has been a mood of stunned disbelief at Social Security as Bailey-Martinez is known to be strict and scrupulous, but has now fallen from grace with a mighty thud - with the tremors resonating all through the organization. A terse communiqué sent to staff this morning from the executive secretary simply informs them that Leticia Vega - the head of the office of Strategic Management is holding over as the Chief Executive Officer and Carol Moss is holding over as Manager of the Internal Audit department until further notice.

Staffers have not been told about the when the independent audit will commence or - for those who tried to get into the mortgage forgiveness programme - what will happen to their outstanding balances, or the money paid in. Chairman Lois Young did not respond to our questions about the investigation today.