Questions raised about why discrepancies weren't found in Richmond gift card scandal
As Richmond RCMP's Serious Crime Section investigates a gift card scandal at city hall, questions are being raised about why discrepancies weren't discovered.
Police were called in after Global News exposed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of financial irregularities.
The city says it has been unable to reconcile $295,000 worth of cards bought in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
KPMG audited the city's financial statements. City of Richmond is defending use of the same company for the forensic audit, saying 'It is being carried out by KPMG Forensic Inc., an independent arm of its Audit Services division.'
2:06
RCMP investigating Richmond City gift card program
Richmond MLA and Attorney General Critic Steve Kooner said 'We need to get to the bottom of this and we need to find out exactly who was involved, we need to find out who signed off on this whole program and all these different give cards, we need that level of accountability, we need answers.'
Story continues below advertisement
Richmond previously claimed most cards were for service awards, retirement or volunteer recognition.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
A Freedom of Information request by Global News produced nearly 500 pages of documents revealing purchases far exceeded those suggested by the city.
One city employee has been fired, so far. The forensic audit covers the past three years only.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
34 minutes ago
- Global News
Alberta buying U.S. alcohol again, months after pause meant to fight tariffs
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Alberta is buying American alcohol and gambling machines again, three months after Premier Danielle Smith announced restrictions aimed at fighting back against U.S. tariffs. Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said Friday that the move signals a 'renewed commitment to open and fair trade' with the United States. Smith said in March that the province would no longer buy U.S. alcohol and video lottery terminals, or sign contracts with American companies. Alberta's liquor stores are privately owned but must order stock through the provincial government. That came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped heavy tariffs on Canadian goods and energy. 2:34 Alberta bans future US liquor purchases Other premiers also announced bans on U.S. liquor along with other proposed penalties. Story continues below advertisement Nally said in a statement that the decision to resume buying U.S. alcohol and gambling machines 'sets the stage for more constructive negotiations' ahead of a renewal of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The agreement, known as CUSMA, was negotiated during the first Trump administration and is up for a mandatory review in 2026. 'Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a clear effort to reset the relationship with the U.S. administration, and Alberta's government supports this approach,' Nally said. 'We are focused on highlighting Alberta's role as a responsible and collaborative trading partner and will continue working alongside other provinces to advocate for a tariff-free relationship.' The minister said Albertans are encouraged to continue supporting local producers, even as more U.S. options return to store shelves. In April, the province paused its policy around procurement from U.S. companies in what Nally called 'the spirit of diplomacy.'
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Carney says Canada to focus on peace, energy security and new partnerships at G7 meeting
Canada has unveiled its priorities for the G7 leaders' summit just one week before it gets underway in Alberta as the government defends its decision to invite India to the summit. Prime Minister Mark Carney's office says Ottawa's top priority for the summit will be strengthening global peace and security, which includes countering foreign interference and transnational crime, as well as improving responses to wildfires. His office also says Canada will focus on spurring economic growth by improving energy security, fortifying supply chains for critical minerals and accelerating the use of artificial intelligence. Lastly, Canada will discuss creating jobs by securing partnerships to open new markets and generate large infrastructure investments. In addition, Canada plans to use its invitation for guests outside the group to discuss how to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine, and to 'build coalitions with reliable partners.' Story continues below advertisement Carney is hosting the summit in Kananaskis, Alta., from June 15 to 17, welcoming U.S. President Donald Trump on his first visit to Canada during this presidential term. Canada is expecting to welcome leaders of the other liberal democracies that make up the G7: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the European Union. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Analysts say the summit has come together under a time crunch, with Ottawa choosing the June date months ago before former prime minister Justin Trudeau resigned and a federal election campaign — which traditionally slows work in the public service. In addition to the G7 members, the host country can invite other leaders in order to give priority nations a voice at the summit. Carney revealed on Friday he had extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, despite the RCMP accusing New Delhi of widespread acts of murder, extortion and coercion primarily against Sikh activists in Canada, including an assassination near Vancouver two years ago. Story continues below advertisement At least four other international leaders have accepted their invitations to Kananaskis: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said she's considering Canada's invitation. The NDP and major Sikh groups in Canada have condemned Carney's decision to invite Modi, arguing the move puts economic concerns ahead of human rights. Supriya Dwivedi, a former senior advisor to previous prime minister Justin Trudeau, derided the invitation as Carney's government 'thinking some Canadian lives matter more than others,' she wrote on the platform Bluesky. 'It will also be incredibly difficult to take anything this (government) says on transnational repression and foreign interference seriously given this pivot,' she wrote. Others have said it's time for Canada to manage security issues through a structured process with India and not let the criminal allegations and India's concerns about Sikh separatism dominate the bilateral relationship. At a virtual news conference Saturday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand stressed her government 'will not undermine' the RCMP investigation into alleged criminality by Indian agents. 'The fact that leaders from a number of countries have been invited to this meeting does not, and should not, detract from the importance of the independent investigation that is ongoing and the rule of law considerations which are absolutely paramount,' she said. Story continues below advertisement Anand said Carney decides which countries get an invitation, and was circumspect about what criteria Ottawa is using to choose which leaders to invite. 'The meeting will allow global leaders to discuss issues of global concern, which is the general purpose of this meeting, and we are honoured to be able to invite leaders to our country,' she said. 'The prime minister will be hosting these leaders for a discussion (on) very serious issues that affect the global economy and the geostrategic environment.'
Global News
2 hours ago
- Global News
Russian attacks on Ukrainian city of Kharkiv kill 4
Russian attacks targeting the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed at least four people and wounded more than two dozen others on Saturday, officials said, as hopes for peace dimmed further. The first wave on Ukraine's second-largest city was a large Russian drone-and-missile attack in the early hours. It killed at least three people and wounded 21 others, according to local officials. In the afternoon, Russia dropped aerial bombs on the city centre, killing at least one person and wounding five more, Kharkiv's mayor said. The warring sides also accused each other of trying to sabotage a planned prisoner exchange, nearly a week after Kyiv embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. Saturday's barrage — the latest in near daily widescale attacks on Ukraine — included aerial glide bombs that have become part of a fierce Russian onslaught in the all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Story continues below advertisement Kharkiv residents describe fiery trap As firefighters and emergency workers bustled around attack sites in Kharkiv, residents described the strikes that damaged their homes and nearly took their lives on Saturday morning. Alina Belous said that she had tried to extinguish flames with buckets of water to rescue a young girl trapped inside a burning building who had called out for help. 'We were trying to put it out ourselves with our buckets, together with our neighbours. Then the rescuers arrived and started helping us put out the fire, but there was smoke and they worried that we couldn't stay there. When the ceiling started falling off, they took us out,' she said. Local resident Vadym Ihnachenko said that he thought at first that it was a neighbouring building going up in flames. 'But when we saw sparks coming from the top, we realized it was our building,' he said. 1:51 Russian strikes on Kyiv a response to Ukraine's weekend airfield attacks 'More pressure on Moscow is required' Ukraine's air force said that Russia struck with 215 missiles and drones overnight, and Ukrainian air defences shot down 87 drones and seven missiles. Story continues below advertisement Several other areas in Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and the city of Ternopil, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in an X post. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'To put an end to Russia's killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine,' he said. The Russian defence ministry on Saturday said that its forces carried out a nighttime strike on Ukrainian military targets, including ammunition depots, drone assembly workshops, and weaponry repair stations. There was no comment from Moscow on the reports of casualties in Kharkiv. Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said that the strikes also damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 private homes. Terekhov said that it was 'the most powerful attack' on the city since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. 2:25 Russia targets Ukraine with hundreds of drones, missiles in massive attack Children among the wounded Kharkiv's regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said the morning's attacks saw two districts in the city struck with three missiles, five aerial glide bombs and 48 drones. Among the wounded were two children, a baby boy and a 14-year-old girl, he added. Story continues below advertisement Six people are believed to be trapped under the rubble of an industrial facility in Kharkiv's Kyiv district, The Kharkiv prosecutor's office said in a statement on Telegram. Contact with those trapped was lost and rescue attempts have been ongoing since early afternoon, it said, without naming the facility. On Saturday afternoon, Russian aerial bombs struck Kharkiv again, killing at least one person and wounding five others, the mayor said. The morning strikes also wounded two people in the Dnipropetrovsk province further south, according to local Gov. Serhii Lysak. Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said that its forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight, over the country's south and west, including near the capital. Drone debris wounded two civilians in the suburbs of Moscow, local Gov. Andrei Vorobyov reported. No breakthrough on a peace deal On Friday, Russia struck six Ukrainian territories, killing at least six people and wounding about 80. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. A U.S.-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, though the negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs. But both sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. Story continues below advertisement Prisoner swap called into question Later on Saturday, Russia and Ukraine each accused the other of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday that otherwise made no progress towards ending the war. Vladimir Medinsky, a Putin aide who led the Russian delegation, said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post, Medinsky said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came. In response, Ukraine said Russia was playing 'dirty games' and manipulating facts. According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn't correspond to agreements reached on Monday. Story continues below advertisement It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims. New video of airfield drone attack Ukraine's security service on Saturday released a video said to show its audacious attack on Russian air fields Sunday in which Kyiv said that 41 Russian military aircraft was destroyed. The video shows the flight path of one explosive-laden first person view, or FPV, drone – from takeoff from the roof of a modular building to the Belaya air field — where it appears to strike a Russian strategic bomber. Other aircraft are seen engulfed in flames, apparently from previous hits in Ukraine's 'Operation Spiderweb.' A previous round of negotiations in Istanbul, the first time Russian and Ukrainian negotiators sat at the same table since the early weeks of the full-scale invasion, led to 1,000 prisoners on both sides being exchanged. 0:28 Ukraine claims drone strike on Russian air bases as both sides prepare for peace talks –with files from The Associated Press' Joanna Kozlowska Story continues below advertisement
