Gov. Charles W. Turnbull removed Claudette Farrington as director of the Internal Revenue Bureau Wednesday and named Louis M. Willis, head of the IRB collections branch, to serve as acting director.
The move came a day before Farrington was to appear under subpoena before the Senate Finance Committee. She and 20 IRB supervisors had been subpoenaed to appear Thursday to answer questions about the functioning of the bureau.
Farrington had asked Finance Committee chair Lorraine Berry to have the meeting postponed, claiming attendance at the meeting by herself and the supervisors would disrupt activity at IRB. Berry refused.
Low productivity and poor morale among employees were reportedly two reasons for the action.
Farrington has been the subject of much dispute in recent months, including a "work-out" by IRB personnel in June.
Farrington has been reassigned to the Office of Management and Budget as special assistant to the director, according to a Government House release.
Berry was meeting late Wednesday with committee members to make a decision on whether to go forward with Thursday's Finance Committee meeting.
