Latest news with #CityofSurrey
CBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Metro Vancouver councillors call for better oversight after alleged misspending and fraud
A Surrey, B.C., councillor is calling for more oversight of city finances in light of allegations that a finance clerk defrauded the city of more than $2.5 million. Coun. Linda Annis said she wants the city to hire an independent auditor general. "It's very critical," Annis said. "The expertise that comes with an auditor general will go a long way to ensuring our taxpayers can have confidence in how city hall is managing and protecting their tax dollars." Annis first put forward the idea of an auditor general in 2021 and is revisiting it in light of a police investigation into allegations that a former City of Surrey finance clerk defrauded the city of more than $2.5 million by cutting hundreds of cheques to accounts associated with herself and her boutique cake baking business. According to a search warrant obtained by CBC News, the woman — who the CBC is not naming as she has not been charged — quit her job in the finance department in January 2024 after she was questioned about what appeared to be a forged signature on some paperwork. That irregularity allegedly led to the discovery of 183 fraudulent cheques written out to the woman's former legal name, her mother and her side business — drawing on funds kept in accounts that had been dormant for years. A warrant issued in March to search the woman's work computer claims Kam Grewal, the City of Surrey's chief financial officer, told police the woman "had been committing fraud since 2017, by exploiting her position and had defrauded the city of more than $2 million." Annis said cities that have an auditor general, like Vancouver and Toronto, "generally do find significant savings and waste through the processes." "I want to make sure we have the best policies and procedures in place now and going forward," Annis said. Coun. Pardeep Kooner, who chairs the audit committee, dismissed Annis's call for an independent auditor general, saying Surrey already has its finances scrutinized by an internal audit and compliance manager. "I'm not sure why we would spend close to $300,000 when we have two positions — one filled, one open — for internal audit," Kooner said. Metro Vancouver area councillors call for more provincial oversight Other city councillors in the Metro Vancouver area say they want the province to boost oversight of municipal spending following revelations of a police investigation into alleged misuse of a city hall gift card program in Richmond, B.C. Richmond's Kash Heed, New Westminster's Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas, and Burnaby's Richard Lee co-signed an open letter to Premier David Eby urging the province to either reinstate an office to oversee municipal spending or expand the mandate of B.C.'s auditor general to include municipal and regional government expenditures. B.C.'s Office of the Auditor General for Local Government stopped operations in 2021. Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon said the province has no plans to revive the office. "At this point we're not bringing in additional measures," he said. Kahlon said that in the cases of Surrey and Richmond "the system is what caught the issue and brought it to light." Heed disputes that, saying Richmond's gift card controversy only came to light after reporting by Global News. "The minister might want to check his facts," Heed said. The City of Richmond said it purchased approximately $446,000 worth of gift cards from 2022 to 2024 as part of an employee recognition program, but found in a recent review that around $295,000 of them were unaccounted for. Richmond RCMP's serious crimes section is investigating. "We would be investing multimillion dollars to set up a system — that would cost a lot of money to the province — in the case of Richmond, to identify where $300,000 went," Kahlon said. Heed says it's much larger than $300,000, pointing to cost overruns at the Metro Vancouver waste water treatment plant, with a price tag that has ballooned to $4 billion. "This is the taxpayers' money," Heed said. "They want some confidence it's being handled with some accountability." Kahlon said "we know there's oversight needed," which is why the province requires local governments to make public their audited financials every year. Michael Favere-Marchesi, an associate professor of accounting and auditing at Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business, said a provincial auditor general for local governments must be notified of any financial irregularities, which is why a robust internal audit system is preferable. "My preference is always to have a city auditor because they get very familiar with all of the operations of the city," he said. Favere-Marchesi said a provincial auditor, by contrast, is brought in on a case-by-case basis and lacks the expertise about each municipality.
CBC
09-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Former Surrey municipal employee suspected of defrauding city of $2.5 million
A former City of Surrey finance clerk is suspected of defrauding the city of more than $2.5 million by cutting hundreds of cheques to accounts associated with herself and her boutique cake baking business. CBC's investigative reporter Jason Proctor has more on the response from the city.
CTV News
09-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
City of Surrey looks to recover lost $2.5M
Vancouver Watch The City of Surrey is looking to recover $2.5 million lost in 'irregular transactions' as it launches civil lawsuit against former employee.
CBC
09-05-2025
- CBC
Former City of Surrey employee suspected of defrauding city of $2.5 million
A former City of Surrey finance clerk is suspected of defrauding the city of $2.5 million. CBC's investigative reporter Jason Proctor has been following the story.
CBC
08-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Former City of Surrey finance clerk suspected of defrauding city of $2.5 million
Surrey police and RCMP financial crimes officers are investigating allegations that a former City of Surrey finance clerk defrauded the city of more than $2.5 million by cutting hundreds of cheques to accounts associated with herself and her boutique cake baking business. According to a search warrant obtained by the CBC, the woman — who the CBC is not naming as she has not been charged — quit her job in the finance department in January 2024 after she was questioned about what appeared to be a forged signature on some paperwork. That irregularity allegedly led to the discovery of 183 fraudulent cheques written out to the woman's former legal name, her mother and her side business — drawing on funds kept in accounts that had been dormant for years. 'Committing fraud since 2017' The court documents say the city's chief financial officer called RCMP last January "to report that his staff within the finance department had uncovered a fraud." A warrant issued in March to search the woman's work computer claims Surrey city CFO Kam Grewal told police the woman "had been committing fraud since 2017, by exploiting her position and had defrauded the city of more than $2 million." The woman did not respond to messages left Wednesday and Thursday on a cell phone associated with her business, which identifies her by name. The business appears to have folded and its website has been taken down. The court documents give an overview of the civic deposit process the woman is suspected of manipulating to reward herself. "The City collects deposits from developers, construction companies and individuals. The deposits are then returned to them once they complete their projects and/or meet certain conditions set by the City," the search warrant says. "The City collects thousands of deposits every year and some deposits have been with the city for over 20 to 40 years, as projects can be delayed, abandoned or the company has some other issues." Grewal allegedly told police the woman "had access to the City databases that had allowed her to see the details about deposits and allowed her to change the names of the payee for the cheques to be issued." 'Cheques that she was not expecting' According to the search warrant, the woman was initially suspended without pay and told to leave the office immediately on Jan. 25, 2024, after being confronted about the forgery. The following day, when the suspect would normally have gone to the accounts payable department to pick up cheques written as legitimate deposit returns, a clerk from the engineering department was sent in her place. The replacement clerk "was given 2 extra cheques that she was not expecting" — one made out to the suspect's mother and the other to a cake baking business. "It was common knowledge in the office that [the woman] also had a cake baking business on the side," the search warrant says. "It was also well known that she was an avid gambler. [She] would often talk about the experiences she had." The next week, the woman sent an email to say she was resigning effective immediately. In the hours that followed, she allegedly called the engineering clerk asking her to bring the two extra cheques "down to the reception so she could just pick them up." The clerk "thought this was odd," the court document says. Tracking changes to accounts According to the search warrant, the woman's supervisors ultimately discovered a total of 183 cheques for a total of $2,537,599.67 written out to the three associated accounts between 2017 and 2024. They tracked the woman's unique user ID to see where she allegedly made changes to addresses and payees linked to deposit account holders in order to carry out the fraud. The court documents lay out a complicated process that starts with the assigning of a unique "D-vendor" number to every person who leaves a deposit with the city. In one example cited in the search warrant, the woman's user ID was used to insert her former name and current address into a D-vendor account set up for a supplier who gave the city a $9,943 deposit in 2012. In other examples, the woman's user ID was allegedly used to withdraw money from long-dormant D-vendor accounts to ones that had just been paid out — changing the details on those accounts to issue new cheques to her cake business or mother. Last fall, police allegedly attempted to obtain an audio statement from the woman's mother, who "appeared quite elderly based on her appearance and slow movements." According to the search warrant, the woman's mother told officers she did not want to talk to police. City response paints different picture The city responded to the CBC's questions about the case Thursday afternoon after being told the CBC planned to run a story Friday morning. Rather than respond directly to the CBC's request, the city issued a media-wide news release. The release does not refer to the search warrant's assertion that the alleged fraud was discovered as a result of a chance mistake. The city claims the irregularities were discovered in response to the mayor's "mandate to ensure fiscally responsible government and to safeguarding every taxpayer dollar." "Once the irregularities were discovered, the City immediately commenced an internal review and engaged external forensic specialists. The matter was also immediately reported to the Surrey RCMP who are conducting a criminal investigation," the release says. "Residents can be assured that decisive steps have been taken to protect public funds and to recover the full amount on their behalf. Because the matter is before the courts, the City is unable to comment further at this time." The city also claims to have initiated legal proceedings that do not name the clerk.
