City Auditor General Tara Anderson’s office releases a report on the Fraud and Waste hotline to the Audit Committee yearly.
The City was defrauded of at least $495,000 and another $100,000 in potential loss was flagged from calls coming into its Fraud and Waste hotline last year.
About $31,000 was recovered according to the City’s Auditor General 2023 report on the hotline activity.
A report was released on February 8 to members of an Audit Committee. It stated that almost 14,000 complaints were received on the Fraud and Waste hotline since 2002.
The report by A-G Tara Anderson said the City suffered $27.7 million in losses, and $1 million in potential losses, stemming from complaints to the hotline from 2019 to 2023.
Auditor General’s staff who receives the complaints from City workers, of which five were disciplined last year.
It said five City workers were disciplined last year and there were 25 instances where actions were taken against vendors, employees or members of the public, who may have been subsidy recipients.
The report said 125 complaints from previous years were closed last year and 31 of those were substantiated in whole or in part.
About 52 per cent of those defrauded ever recover any of their losses, according to the association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
An Auditor General report issued on wrongdoings in the construction trade.
The Auditor General said last year there were 1,450 allegations received on the tip line that led to 1,054 investigations. The report said some 144 of the complaints were investigated by Auditor General’s staff or the City’s Divisions, agencies or corporations.
Some 30 of the 144 complaints investigated were substantiated in whole or in part and eight of those were made by anonymous callers.
It was “the highest in a year since the launch of the Hotline Program,” the report stated. “The Hotline Program has helped to reduce losses and resulted in the protection of City.”
The office said the ‘complaint data is used to identify trends, address risks, make action oriented recommendations to management, and inform our Audit Work Plan.’
A previous report issued by the Office on City wrongdoings by staff and residents.
The information is also used to deter fraud or wrongdoing, strengthen internal controls, improve policies and procedures and increase efficiencies.
The Fraud and Waste Hotline Program began as a six-month pilot program in March 2002 and was made permanent in November that same year. The Auditor General is required to make a report yearly to the Audit Committee.
The Hotline is managed by the Auditor General’s Forensic Unit, whose members collectively possess the expertise to resolve a range of complaints and conduct investigative work into complex allegations. Due to the small size of the team, the Unit occasionally leverages audit staff or outside experts to assist in complex investigations.
All City employees who are aware that wrongdoing has occurred are required to immediately notify their manager, their Division Head, or the Auditor General’s Office. The allegations of wrongdoing are to be immediately reported to the Auditor General.