Complaint by former Liberal Party president against N.S. auditor general dismissed

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jul 15, 2025 8:57 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A regulatory assemblage has dismissed a ailment by the erstwhile president of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party against the province's auditor wide regarding a study she completed past twelvemonth connected the misuse of nationalist funds.

Joseph Khoury complained to Chartered Professional Accountants Nova Scotia past twelvemonth aft Kim Adair asked the RCMP to analyse a imaginable "concealment" of the theft of nationalist wealth by a enactment employee.

A spokeswoman for the accountants' oversight assemblage said it decided connected June 10 "to disregard the ailment successful whole" against Adair, though the reasoning wasn't made public.

Khoury was the party's president erstwhile the theft was discovered successful December 2020.

He has said the enactment investigated the theft and recovered the stolen money.

He besides alleged Adair's study issued successful February 2024 was incomplete and that it is defamatory toward him and the Liberals.

AG bureau stands by report

However, Adair's bureau sent an email Monday stating "she stands afloat down the study and the process followed to hole it."

"The study recommendations from February 2024 were accepted and endorsed formally by the legislature's nationalist accounts committee. Also, past Liberal Leader Zach Churchill indicated helium instantly acted connected the recommendations [to interaction the RCMP]."

Cindy Bayers, a spokeswoman for the RCMP, said successful an email that "the substance remains nether investigation."

In her report, Adair said her bureau was alert of "concerning information" that revealed the enactment tried to fell and hold the substance "until aft the 2021 election," which the incumbent Liberals mislaid to the Progressive Conservatives.

It besides said the erstwhile employee's misuse of question claims and a enactment recognition paper led to the employee's resignation and the reimbursement of much than $194,000 by the employee.

The reimbursements were to screen the outgo of the missing funds and of the forensic audit that followed.

The auditor's study says, "The [Liberal] association's hold successful providing accusation to our bureau was not successful compliance with the Auditor General Act," which gives her bureau unrestricted entree to records of immoderate enactment that receives nationalist funding.

Then Liberal person asked constabulary to investigate 

Churchill, who was elected enactment person successful July 2022 and resigned aft past fall's predetermination loss, supported the auditor general's uncovering and has said helium went to constabulary "and urged them to look into this substance further."

Khoury wasn't instantly disposable for comment.

However, past twelvemonth helium sent an email to The Canadian Press saying helium believed the auditor general's study was "inaccurate."

He wrote that the enactment instantly took steps to retrieve the wealth and guarantee it would beryllium "repaid successful full" arsenic soon arsenic it discovered funds were missing successful December 2020. The steps they took included hiring a instrumentality steadfast and pursuing its advice, helium added.

The Liberals besides hired Deloitte to behaviour a forensic introspection of the party's machine networks, fiscal records and different files from erstwhile years, Khoury said.

"Contrary to what the auditor wide asserts successful her report, the autarkic auditor for the [Liberal] association was wholly alert that determination were precise apt erstwhile years impacted by this nonaccomplishment and that the probe was being conducted by Deloitte," wrote Khoury.

"To bash this enactment decently took time. Simply put, we did not cognize what the erstwhile years' probe would unearth. In this country of her report, the auditor wide is wholly and unequivocally mistaken oregon has been misinformed."