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British Columbia
A Surrey, B.C., councillor is calling for much oversight of city finances successful airy of allegations that a finance clerk defrauded the metropolis of much than $2.5 million.
Surrey Coun. Linda Annis wants the metropolis to prosecute an autarkic auditor general
Katie DeRosa · CBC News
· Posted: May 21, 2025 8:39 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago
A Surrey, B.C., councillor is calling for much oversight of city finances successful airy of allegations that a finance clerk defrauded the metropolis of much than $2.5 million.
Coun. Linda Annis said she wants the metropolis to prosecute an autarkic auditor general.
"It's precise critical," Annis said. "The expertise that comes with an auditor wide volition spell a agelong mode to ensuring our taxpayers tin person assurance successful however metropolis hallway is managing and protecting their taxation dollars."
Annis archetypal enactment guardant the thought of an auditor wide successful 2021 and is revisiting it in airy of a police investigation into allegations that a erstwhile City of Surrey concern clerk defrauded the metropolis of much than $2.5 cardinal by cutting hundreds of cheques to accounts associated with herself and her boutique barroom baking business.
According to a hunt warrant obtained by CBC News, the pistillate — who the CBC is not naming arsenic she has not been charged — quit her occupation successful the concern section successful January 2024 aft she was questioned astir what appeared to beryllium a forged signature connected immoderate paperwork.
That irregularity allegedly led to the find of 183 fraudulent cheques written retired to the woman's erstwhile ineligible name, her parent and her broadside concern — drafting connected funds kept successful accounts that had been dormant for years.
A warrant issued successful March to hunt the woman's enactment machine claims Kam Grewal, the City of Surrey's main fiscal officer, told constabulary the pistillate "had been committing fraud since 2017, by exploiting her presumption and had defrauded the metropolis of much than $2 million."
Annis said cities that person an auditor general, similar Vancouver and Toronto, "generally bash find important savings and discarded done the processes."
"I privation to marque definite we person the champion policies and procedures successful spot present and going forward," Annis said.
Coun. Pardeep Kooner, who chairs the audit committee, dismissed Annis's call for an autarkic auditor general, saying Surrey already has its finances scrutinized by an interior audit and compliance manager.
"I'm not definite wherefore we would walk adjacent to $300,000 erstwhile we person 2 positions — 1 filled, 1 unfastened — for internal audit," Kooner said.
Metro Vancouver country councillors telephone for more provincial oversight
Other metropolis councillors successful the Metro Vancouver area say they want the state to boost oversight of municipal spending pursuing revelations of a constabulary probe into alleged misuse of a metropolis hallway acquisition paper programme successful Richmond, B.C.
Richmond's Kash Heed, New Westminster's Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas, and Burnaby's Richard Lee co-signed an unfastened missive to Premier David Eby urging the state to either reinstate an bureau to oversee municipal spending oregon grow the mandate of B.C.'s auditor wide to see municipal and determination authorities expenditures.
B.C.'s Office of the Auditor General for Local Government stopped operations in 2021.
Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon said the state has no plans to revive the office.
"At this constituent we're not bringing successful further measures," helium said.
Kahlon said that successful the cases of Surrey and Richmond "the strategy is what caught the contented and brought it to light."
Heed disputes that, saying Richmond's gift paper contention lone came to airy aft reporting by Global News.
"The curate mightiness privation to cheque his facts," Heed said.
"We would beryllium investing multimillion dollars to acceptable up a strategy — that would outgo a batch of wealth to the state — successful the lawsuit of Richmond, to place wherever $300,000 went," Kahlon said.
Heed says it's overmuch larger than $300,000, pointing to outgo overruns astatine the Metro Vancouver discarded h2o attraction plant, with a terms tag that has ballooned to $4 billion.
"This is the taxpayers' money," Heed said. "They privation immoderate assurance it's being handled with immoderate accountability."
Kahlon said "we cognize there's oversight needed," which is wherefore the state requires section governments to marque nationalist their audited financials each year.
Michael Favere-Marchesi, an subordinate prof of accounting and auditing astatine Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business, said a provincial auditor wide for section governments indispensable beryllium notified of any fiscal irregularities, which is wherefore a robust interior audit strategy is preferable.
"My penchant is ever to person a metropolis auditor due to the fact that they get precise acquainted with each of the operations of the city," helium said.
Favere-Marchesi said a provincial auditor, by contrast, is brought successful connected a case-by-case ground and lacks the expertise astir each municipality.
"For the large cities similar Vancouver and Surrey, I deliberation they merit their ain auditor general," helium said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katie DeRosa is the provincial affairs newsman for CBC British Columbia. She is based successful Victoria. You tin interaction her astatine [email protected].
With files from Jason Proctor and The Canadian Press
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