The city of Ottawa's fraud and waste hotline took a record number of calls in 2015. Over 300 tips led to 6 city employees being fired and one other employee resigning.
It's a 92 per cent increase in calls over last year but the auditor general says this is not an indication that fraud is up at city hall rather that the system is working. Employees and members of the public are increasingly aware that this hotline is available.
Some details on those six employees fired by the city:
- Two employees were fired for stealing and selling copper.
- One was let-go for stealing 68 dollars from a city facility.
- One was caught working a second job while on sick leave.
On a tip from management, auditors also looked into a separate issue of missing cash at the city's Client Service Centre.
In that particular case auditors could not determine whether this was fraud or just human error. Two employees are now devoted full-time to the hot line and the follow up investigations. The most frequent complaints involve misuse of city property or time.
So far, 2016 is on track to see a similar number of calls. Auditor general Ken Hughes says this kind of volume may be the "new normal". If you'd like to take a closer look at the fraud and waste hotline report, there is a link above to the document.
