Toronto Spending

Toronto defrauded of $939,000 in 2011, city’s auditor general reveals

February 21, 2012
Paul Moloney

Toronto’s Auditor General Jeff Griffiths says his office has found that the city was defrauded of at least $939,000 last year.
Out of hundreds of complaints to the office, 53 were substantiated, Griffiths said in a report to council’s audit committee.
Among the cases probed by the auditor general:
 • An employee under investigation for submitting false benefit claims retired and received full retirement payouts despite being suspended.
 • One employee was allowed to resign and another fired after working a second job outside the city during regular city work hours.
 • Two city staffers received discipline letters after a contractor was overpaid $20,000 due to staff not clearly understanding the contract requirements.
 • One staffer received a discipline letter and a second was allowed to resign for working part time for a city contractor.
 • Two employees were suspended for submitting false daily logs; creating records for work not performed; making personal use of city assets; and leaving work early.
 • An employee was fired for calling in sick while working a second, non-city job. Another was terminated for calling in sick on six occasions while working a second job on those days.
 • Three employees were suspended for conducting personal matters on city time and falsifying time sheets.
 • Two employees received “letters of direction” after starting a consulting business that offered services that overlapped with their city jobs. Another was terminated for running a personal business during work hours using city resources.
 • A staffer was fired for using their city position to obtain personal favours from a citizen.
 • An employee was terminated for misappropriating $1,500 in scrap material from a contractor’s work site on city property.
 • An employee was terminated for claiming 11 sick days to plan a personal event.
 • A staffer received a discipline letter after a city supplier performed minor work on the employee’s property.
The report is to be discussed by the audit committee next week.