More Northern Cases Of Civil Servant Misspending

More Northern Cases Of Civil Servant Misspending

Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 14:25

The provincial government has announced several cases of previously-unreported cases of financial irregularities or misuse of public funds within government departments.

They include two cases involving the Northern Affairs department.

Up until today’s announcement, the public was aware of five cases of misspending involving civil servants – including the disappearance of $227,000 at the La Loche liquor store and an incident involving financial irregularities of $25,000 from the northern adult corrections inmate trust fund. In both cases, the employee was fired and the RCMP was asked to investigate.

Now, because the province has today pledged to report less serious incidents, the government is releasing details of 37 more cases that have come to light in the last three years.

The cases involving Northern Affairs include an incident involving an employee and the inappropriate use of a government-owned vehicle. The employee was let go.

The department also says it is proceeding with legal action against another former employee who it claims violated his obligation regarding the collection of an outstanding loan totaling approximately $5,000.

In all, the provincial government says just under $2 million of taxpayers’ money has been misspent by government workers over the last three years.