A former Port Coquitlam city employee will face a police investigation after stealing $175,000 from the municipality over a three-year period.
The employee, who quit in March after returning the taxpayer funds in full, has not been identified by the city but, if charges are approved by Crown counsel following the Mounties' probe, his or her name will be made public in court records.
On Monday — following a two-month forensic review by consultants that concluded with recommendations on how to avoid future employee theft and fraud — city council voted to inform the RCMP about the matter.
The decision, which was made behind closed doors, was a struggle for council, Mayor Greg Moore told The Tri-City News yesterday (Tuesday).
"There's definitely pros and cons to it," Moore said. "Council doesn't know who the person is but you get to know a little bit more about this person based on the information that's provided and you realize, at the end of the day, there is a person on the other end of this decision."
Moore said the Coquitlam RCMP detachment was to be notified of council's vote this week. An RCMP spokesperson said Tuesday that officers "are aware of the city's intention" and declined comment until a formal complaint had been made.
Moore said senior city managers will also communicate council's steps with civic staff this week and relay the consultant's recommendations.
In a statement issued to The Tri-City News yesterday, the city outlined some of the new rules. They include:
• reviewing current approval thresholds for staff who have purchasing authority to ensure the limits are appropriate for the positions and scope of responsibility;
• eliminating the ability for staff — at any level — to approve their own purchases by requiring an additional approval by a senior staff member;
• formalizing the requirement for staff responsible for approving purchasing to undergo detailed and regular budget analysis and account variances;
• providing more training for staff responsible for approving purchases (i.e., fraud awareness prevention and budget variance analysis);
• and initiating a whistleblower policy to encourage staff to report fraud and purchasing concerns.
Moore said he expects most of the recommendations to roll out over the next month or so.
Asked why council made the crucial vote in the middle of the city's 94th annual May Day festivities, the mayor responded: "We want to move on with this. The recommendations that are being made to change our systems are important and staff want direction to get on with them."
Moore was also asked if council's vote would have been different had the story not gone public when The Tri-City News exclusively broke the story last month.
"It's hard to say," he said. "I've gone back and forth on this issue from the day we found out about it to last night [Monday]. It was a real hard one for all of us on council."
According to a city statement, the worker had used the city's accounts payable and a credit card to buy tools and other small machines, which were then sold through a third party for personal gain.
When a co-worker alerted senior managers about the misconduct, the employee confessed and eventually repaid the city in full.
Under Section 334 (a) of the Criminal Code of Canada, conviction on a charge of theft over $5,000 carries a maximum prison term of 10 years.
Meanwhile, as part of the city's 2018 budget cycle, city staff will bring forward a funding request to implement ongoing internal audit reviews by a third party, Purewal said.
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