Surrey mayor claims public deposits safe despite alleged $2.5-million fraud

Jason Proctor · CBC News

· Posted: May 09, 2025 7:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Surrey's politician insisted Friday that developers and members of the nationalist tin person assurance successful the city's fiscal safeguards contempt revelations that a erstwhile metropolis concern clerk allegedly defrauded taxpayers of much than $2.5 million. 

A time aft CBC News revealed the beingness of a constabulary probe into the missing funds, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke told On the Coast host Gloria Macarenko that the alleged fraud was caught due to the fact that of metropolis staff.

"There was irregularities that person to beryllium addressed and that's precisely what the metropolis is doing. And I deliberation that members of the nationalist should cognize that. They should cognize that the process is moving precisely arsenic it should," Locke said.

"We are very, precise acrophobic and that's wherefore we enactment each these processes successful spot truthful we could marque definite that the nationalist purse is managed with care."

'An avid gambler'

The mayor's comments travel quality that Surrey constabulary and RCMP person been investigating a erstwhile metropolis concern clerk who resigned successful January 2024 aft being challenged astir an allegedly forged signature connected a cheque.

CBC is not naming the woman, who has not been charged with immoderate crime.

WATCH | Locke responds to fraud allegations: 

The woman — who had worked for the metropolis for 20 years — allegedly manipulated the strategy the metropolis uses to instrumentality deposits from developers to funnel wealth to accounts acceptable up successful her erstwhile ineligible name, her mother's sanction and the sanction of her boutique barroom baking business.

The wealth allegedly came from a acceptable of accounts containing deposits left with the metropolis arsenic acold backmost arsenic 40 years ago. The pistillate is accused of changing the names and addresses of payees.

According to a hunt warrant obtained by CBC, the woman's supervisors followed her unsocial physics signature to find 183 cheques from those accounts totalling much than $2.5 million, written betwixt 2017 and 2024 — the bulk of which were made retired to her business.

"It was communal cognition successful the bureau that [the woman] also had a barroom baking concern connected the side," the hunt warrant says.

"It was besides good known that she was an avid gambler. [She] would often speech astir the experiences she had."

Husband nary longer works for city

According to tribunal documents obtained by CBC, the metropolis sued the pistillate and her parent successful February 2024, but the details of the suit didn't marque it into the nationalist domain due to the fact that the announcement of civilian assertion was sealed.

The woman's response, however, is publically available.

"[She] expressly denies the allegations of fraud, conversion, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary work arsenic alleged," the tribunal papers reads.

The woman's parent besides filed a effect denying wrongdoing and claiming she "handed implicit her slope cards" to her girl 3 weeks aft opening the CIBC slope relationship wherever the funds were allegedly transferred.

She claimed she was not alert that her girl had not closed her slope accounts.

"At each times, [the mother] was not alert that [the daughter] had transferred immoderate of the misappropriated funds into the CIBC accounts," the parent claimed.

WATCH | Search warrant reveals details of fraud allegations: 

In her interrogation with CBC, Locke confirmed that the woman's husband — who was besides a City of Surrey employee — is nary longer employed by the city.

According to metropolis records, the antheral earned astir $110,000 successful 2022.

Locke said determination were nary longer immoderate employees that had immoderate "touch points" to the investigation.

"I'm not alert of the circumstances to wherefore this person left his employment here," she said.

Files deleted aft suspension?

The hunt warrant besides raises questions astir the woman's entree to machine files pursuing her departure.

According to the hunt warrant, aft she was suspended, the woman's manager "happened to look down the hallway and noted that [the woman] and her husband, who besides worked for the city, were some astatine [her] desk."

The manager "did not deliberation overmuch of it different than helium suspected she astir apt had been with the national typical for immoderate clip aft the meeting," the hunt warrant says.

The pursuing day, the aforesaid manager noted that six files related to cheques written retired to the pistillate had been deleted sometime "between 5:20 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. the time prior."

"It was astir the aforesaid clip that [he] observed [the woman] astatine her table aft the gathering erstwhile she had been suspended," the hunt warrant says.

The files were aboriginal restored.

None of the allegations against the pistillate oregon her parent person been proven successful court.