Surrey’s mayor insisted Friday that builders and members of the general public can have faith within the metropolis’s monetary safeguards regardless of revelations {that a} former metropolis finance clerk allegedly defrauded taxpayers of greater than $2.5 million.
A day after CBC Information revealed the existence of a police investigation into the lacking funds, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke instructed On the Coast host Gloria Macarenko that the alleged fraud was caught due to metropolis workers.
“There was irregularities that need to be addressed and that is precisely what town is doing. And I feel that members of the general public ought to know that. They need to know that the method is working precisely because it ought to,” Locke mentioned.
“We’re very, very involved and that is why we put all these processes in place so we might guarantee that the general public purse is managed with care.”
‘An avid gambler’
The mayor’s feedback observe information that Surrey police and RCMP have been investigating a former metropolis finance clerk who resigned in January 2024 after being challenged about an allegedly cast signature on a cheque.
CBC isn’t naming the girl, who has not been charged with any crime.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke responded Friday to allegations {that a} former municipal worker defrauded town of $2.5 million, insisting that they’ve satisfactory monetary safeguards in place. The ex-finance clerk is alleged to have funneled a whole lot of cheques to herself, drawing funds from deposits made to town by builders.
The girl — who had labored for town for 20 years — allegedly manipulated the system town makes use of to take deposits from builders to funnel cash to accounts arrange in her former authorized title, her mom’s title and the title of her boutique cake baking enterprise.
The cash allegedly got here from a set of accounts containing deposits left with town way back to 40 years in the past. The girl is accused of adjusting the names and addresses of payees.
In line with a search warrant obtained by CBC, the girl’s supervisors adopted her distinctive digital signature to search out 183 cheques from these accounts totalling greater than $2.5 million, written between 2017 and 2024 — the majority of which have been made out to her enterprise.
“It was frequent data within the workplace that [the woman] additionally had a cake baking enterprise on the aspect,” the search warrant says.
“It was additionally well-known that she was an avid gambler. [She] would typically discuss concerning the experiences she had.”
Husband now not works for metropolis
In line with court docket paperwork obtained by CBC, town sued the girl and her mom in February 2024, however the particulars of the lawsuit did not make it into the general public area as a result of the discover of civil declare was sealed.
The girl’s response, nonetheless, is publicly accessible.
“[She] expressly denies the allegations of fraud, conversion, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary obligation as alleged,” the court docket doc reads.
The girl’s mom additionally filed a response denying wrongdoing and claiming she “handed over her financial institution playing cards” to her daughter three weeks after opening the CIBC checking account the place the funds have been allegedly transferred.
She claimed she was not conscious that her daughter had not closed her financial institution accounts.
“Always, [the mother] was not conscious that [the daughter] had transferred a few of the misappropriated funds into the CIBC accounts,” the mom claimed.
A former Metropolis of Surrey finance clerk is suspected of defrauding town of $2.5 million. CBC’s investigative reporter Jason Proctor has been following the story.
In her interview with CBC, Locke confirmed that the girl’s husband — who was additionally a Metropolis of Surrey worker — is now not employed by town.
In line with metropolis information, the person earned practically $110,000 in 2022.
Locke mentioned there have been now not any workers that had any “contact factors” to the investigation.
“I am not conscious of the circumstances to why this particular person left his employment right here,” she mentioned.
Recordsdata deleted after suspension?
The search warrant additionally raises questions concerning the girl’s entry to pc information following her departure.
In line with the search warrant, after she was suspended, the girl’s supervisor “occurred to look down the hallway and famous that [the woman] and her husband, who additionally labored for town, have been each at [her] desk.”
The supervisor “didn’t assume a lot of it aside from he suspected she most likely had been with the union consultant for a while after the assembly,” the search warrant says.
The next day, the identical supervisor famous that six information associated to cheques written out to the girl had been deleted someday “between 5:20 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. the day prior.”
“It was roughly the identical time that [he] noticed [the woman] at her desk after the assembly when she had been suspended,” the search warrant says.
The information have been later restored.
Not one of the allegations towards the girl or her mom have been confirmed in court docket.
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