An internal audit at Canadian health provider Sagkeeng Health Centre identified as much as $1.4 million in improper payments to employees and managers. The audit found unwarranted travel allowances, pay for questionable extra duties and for speeding tickets among the items covered by funding for the healthcare organization on Sagkeeng First Nation, according to a forensic report obtained by CBC News.
It found $1.37 million was paid out improperly to employees in 2016 and 2017 and some of it with “no rationale or support.”
The audit uncovered instances of $1,000 cash advances, extensive travel
entertainment costs (including trips to escape rooms, movie theaters and toy stores), and tens of thousands of dollars in “finders fees” for writing
grant proposals. The majority of staff were also given a monthly “travel allowance” of $400 and yet were still reimbursed for travel expenses.
“These arbitrary payments to themselves and employees misrepresented the financial condition of the organization,” says the report, dated April 13, 2018. One manager received as much as $166,000 in improper payments, while the top employee received nearly $86,000 over a two-year period.
Concerns were raised after the First Nation’s council
reviewed the employees’ salaries and found they were being provided
checks for various expenses “in lieu of overtime, extra duties,
advances and honorariums.”