Latest news with #forensicAudit
CTV News
09-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Fireworks at North Bay city council as motion to audit mayor's expenses fails
Mayor Peter Chirico declared a conflict of interest at the beginning of the meeting Tuesday night and didn't participate in the debate. North Bay's city council meeting plunged into chaos Tuesday night as councillors defeated a motion calling for an independent forensic audit of Mayor Peter Chirico's expenses. An amended version of the motion was defeated by a 7-3 vote. The original motion was ultimately pulled after a fiery debate. Chirico declared a conflict of interest at the beginning of the meeting and didn't participate in the debate. Coun. Tanya Vrebosch Coun. Tanya Vrebosch said the confused debate was frustrating and made council look 'completely stupid.' (Eric Taschner/CTV News) The mayor has been under fire since it emerged that he charged $16,000 in personal expenses on a corporate credit card in 2023 and 2024. Some of these personal items reportedly include dog food, cigarettes and a golf membership. The mayor has said that all expenses that were deemed personal, including some that fell into a 'grey area,' were fully repaid. He has since called for the city's integrity commissioner to look into the matter, but Tuesday night, council debated whether to go a step further and have the expenses subject to a forensic audit. Coun. Jamie Lowery Coun. Jamie Lowery said council deserves answers about how the expenses were approved. (Eric Taschner/CTV News) An amended version of the motion, moved by Coun. Jamie Lowery and seconded by Coun. Tanya Vrebosch, called for an audit of all 'spending related to the Office of the Mayor' from the beginning of the current council term in 2022 to the present day. The audit would have been conducted by a firm that has 'not participated in city audits in the last 10 years' and would have excluded the participation of anyone involved in approving or overseeing the mayor's expenses. That list includes city officials such as the chief administrative officer, the chief financial officer, the city solicitor and the current external auditor. Once the amended motion was defeated, the original motion, which included a call for Chirico to temporarily step aside from the North Bay Police Board, was then brought before council. Confusion, frustration That motion was then broken down into five bullet points to be voted on individually. But that decision caused confusion and frustration, with councillors unsure of exactly what they were voting on. 'We're looking completely stupid right now,' Vrebosch said. 'Changing and breaking it up into five pieces has changed the intent of the motion and we need to bring this back because we need to stop this.' In the end, Lowery and Coun. Sara Inch agreed that the original motion should be pulled from the floor. All the while, Chirico watched on. Lowery said council deserved answers. 'What went wrong? There's two years. Who signed off on it? Who let them pay it back? Who would that authority come from? There's a lot of things and we're only going by the information we have,' he said. 'There's a reason why people think government is corrupt and not transparent. These guys all ran on transparency and tonight they did not show that whatsoever.' — Coun. Tanya Vrebosch 'I wouldn't call it corruption. I just think that we've got to be a lot more accountable about what we do and how we conduct ourselves.' In a fiery news scrum after the meeting ended, Vrebosch argued the amended motion should have passed because the 'scope of the integrity commissioner is very narrow.' 'I'm trying to protect them (certain members) and take them out of the process and make sure that we are looking at this as transparent and as independent as we possibly can,' Vrebosch said. At one point during the discussion, Coun. Mac Bain and Vrebosch traded verbal blows about the way municipal politics is being run in the city. 'This is not the city that represents me and this council does not represent North Bay. To be honest, tonight I thought it was very disappointing,' she said. 'Government, to me, politics, to me, I hold it very high and this council is ruining it. There's a reason why people think government is corrupt and not transparent. These guys all ran on transparency and tonight they did not show that whatsoever.' Bain told reporters the reason he voted against the amended motion was because it 'called into question' the ability of senior city staff that helps the way councillors govern. Gardiner and Bain Councillors Gary Gardiner and Mac Bain are seen at Tuesday night's meeting. (Eric Taschner/CTV News) 'I believe the integrity commissioner's report, the auditor's report that's done and the change in policy that will come forward in regard to spending, will all be taken care,' he said. Coun. Gary Gardiner, who said during the meeting that he stands with the mayor, voted against both the original and amended motions. Gardiner said the integrity commissioner's investigation should play out first. 'We have a ruling on his code of conduct, No. 1, right?' he told reporters. 'In my opinion, they were questioning his integrity and suggesting almost that there was some criminal element.' 'Kangaroo court' Gardiner said Chirico's children and grandchildren are unfairly seeing everything unfold on social media. 'The way this is playing out in social media, it's a kangaroo court and somebody has to stand up for him,' he added. 'The councillors (who) are calling for more information, etc., decided not to attend a closed meeting. We have reasons why closed meetings are held and they've turned it into this kind of situation that didn't have to go this way.' Vrebosch said many taxpayers won't be happy because an independent audit won't be conducted. 'You want to see the public react to this tonight? Watch their emails, their Facebook messages and their text messages -- this is going to blow up in the city,' Vrebosch said. 'The taxpayers need to speak up on this one.' Council did unanimously pass a motion that was moved by Coun. Lana Mitchell that instructs city staff to bring forward a transparency and accountability bylaw, requiring council and mayoral expenses to be published online every quarter. The bylaw will be ready by September.
CBC
05-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
The chaos at Kamloops council continues as mayor's pursuit of forensic financial audit fails
The divide at Kamloops city council appears to be wider than ever following the recent defeat of a controversial motion put forward by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to conduct a forensic audit of all city departments and management practices. Several tense exchanges erupted as the mayor tried to convince at least four of the eight other members of council to support his wish to hire a third-party investigator. Hamer-Jackson has sparred with the rest of council since the fall of 2022, when they were all elected, repeatedly complaining about property taxes being too high and the need to find savings. Early in the debate last week, the mayor accused Coun. Mike O'Reilly of violating conflict of interest rules involving the purchase of land from the city by Comet Industries in 2020, when O'Reilly was two years into his first term on council. He's the president and CEO of that real estate holding and development company. O'Reilly fired back, saying he always recuses himself from any discussions involving his private interests. "Mr. Mayor, you can't speak about me in my professional role with Comet Industries," said O'Reilly. "I completely removed myself from any conversations with the City of Kamloops. We pay people a significant amount of money to act on behalf of Comet. It almost seems like you're trying to get me in a conflict." Replied the mayor: "I had citizens asking me how Comet Industries buys a piece of property for $35,820, appraised for $90,000? I still can't explain it to those citizens. This is not a witch hunt. This is a forensic audit to do the same type of thing the TNRD did." Hamer-Jackson was referring to a 2021 investigation which found several examples of waste at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. City administrators have confirmed the land sale mentioned by the mayor involving Comet Industries was fair value. The transaction involved the purchase of less than half an acre rather than the full acre assessed price quoted by Hamer-Jackson. Hamer-Jackson also sparred with Coun. Katie Neustaeter, who asked him to focus on the motion instead of raising topics not allowed to be discussed in open meetings. "Are you just gonna continue attacking, or can we debate your motion?" she asked. Hamer-Jackson accused her of violating discussion guidelines. "You're out of order. I'm gonna ask the CAO to ask you to leave." "Then let's go together happily. You step out. I'll step out," Neustaeter replied. The argument escalated to the point where Hamer-Jackson was asked to call the question on the audit before everyone on council had a chance to weigh in. The motion was defeated 8-1. "You guys remind me of a pack of coyotes," said Hamer-Jackson, prompting Coun. Bill Sarai to say: "You sank your own notice of motion." Nearly every past motion from the mayor has failed, but this one got to the point where it was at least considered by the rest of council. After the motion was defeated, O'Reilly told CBC Kamloops the scope of the proposed forensic audit was too wide. "Mayor Hamer-Jackson threw everything off the rails, which again is very much consistent with what he's done since he took office. The way the motion was written, it was in attack mode," said O'Reilly. "I find it rich when we're looking at trying to find cost savings, he doesn't have to look any further than in the mirror. He's cost the city ... it's getting close to over a million and a half dollars." The mayor left the meeting immediately after it was adjourned and didn't take reporter's questions. Neustaeter accused the mayor of being his own worst enemy. WATCH | Kamloops mayor refuses to heed council's call to resign: Kamloops mayor refuses to heed council's call to resign 1 year ago Duration 1:53 City council in Kamloops, B.C., has formally called on Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to resign after a scathing report by a provincially appointed municipal adviser was made public on Tuesday. But, CBC's Marcella Bernarndo explains, the mayor is refusing to resign. "We came in there in good faith. We did our homework. He made it absolutely impossible," said Neustaeter. Neustaeter also pointed out the purpose of a forensic audit is to find evidence of fraud, and Hamer-Jackson has shared no evidence of that. Neustaeter has been sparring with Hamer-Jackson — in public and in court — since the spring of 2023. On July 7, they will both go before a B.C. Supreme Court judge at the Kamloops courthouse. That's where Neustaeter will seek the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed against her by the mayor in June 2023 after she made a public statement on behalf of council accusing him of crossing personal and professional boundaries. Hamer-Jackson claims that led some people to wrongly believe he may have sexually harassed her. Neustaeter wants the matter tossed out under provincial legislation, which rids the courts of actions considered a drain on time and money. If lawyers for Neustaeter convince the judge that the mayor's case against her is frivolous, it could be dismissed, and he could be forced to cover her legal costs. That impacts taxpayers in Kamloops because they're currently covering Neustaeter's legal fees. The mayor's legal costs must be paid by him. He says it's partially why he's trying to sell his home, his boat and the commercial property he owns on West Victoria Street. For the last year, the rest of council has been asking the mayor to resign. He responded by holding a news conference last summer, declaring he plans to seek re-election. The province has been asked to help resolve the discord at city hall, but Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon says there's no way to force the mayor to leave. Kahlon recently confirmed he's trying to update the Municipal Affairs Act, so what's happening in Kamloops — which has been seen in some other — won't be tolerated. WATCH | B.C. government to rein in dysfunctional councils: B.C. government to rein in dysfunctional councils 24 days ago Duration 2:12 The B.C. government says it's looking at how to rein in dysfunctional city councils. A number of communities — most notably Kamloops — have been paralyzed by councillors and mayors investigating and sometimes suing each other, instead of focusing on city business. Justin McElroy has more on what prompted the government's action, and how it could deal with the issue. Kahlon also told CBC Kamloops taxpayers should be concerned that more than a million dollars has been spent on legal issues involving the mayor. "If I were a citizen of Kamloops, I would be pissed, quite frankly, because we elect our officials to treat each other with respect … those are dollars that could have gone to infrastructure. Those are dollars that could have gone to important community services," said Kahlon. "We've seen the situation here in Kamloops, but also in a few other communities, which leads me to believe something more comprehensive is needed."
LBCI
22-05-2025
- Business
- LBCI
BDL pursues legal action over embezzlement allegations, commits to transparency
The Banque du Liban (BDL) announced it is continuing to take legal measures, in coordination with international law firms, to pursue any individuals—whether natural persons or legal entities—who held positions of responsibility within the bank or were directly or indirectly affiliated with it and are suspected of involvement in embezzlement or illicit enrichment. BDL's statement comes amid ongoing efforts to restore institutional credibility and financial transparency. It confirmed that Alvarez & Marsal, the firm tasked with conducting a forensic audit, has received all requested information necessary to complete the first phase of its assignment, commissioned by the Finance Ministry. The bank reiterated its readiness to cooperate fully should the Lebanese government choose to expand the firm's mandate. On the legislative front, BDL said it is working closely with the government and parliamentary committees to review proposed legal amendments, aiming to align them with existing banking regulations while safeguarding the bank's independence and authority. BDL governor expressed openness to engaging with stakeholders including depositors' committees, business associations, and the banking sector. He noted these discussions are focused on outlining the general principles and strategic roadmap BDL intends to follow to achieve sustainable financial balance. The statement emphasized that any reports concerning specific policy steps or proposals beyond the outlined framework are purely speculative and do not represent the bank's official position.
