Saskatchewan government releases public losses

REGINA – Over $19,000 in public money was lost within Saskatchewan government ministries and Crown corporations according to a fourth quarter report released Monday.

The largest amount, at $6,021, was in the Ministry of Justice. Between 2010 and 2012, an agent of the Fines Options Program (FOP) wrote off fines equating to 650 hours of work in lieu of payment of fines.

The Ministry of Justice suspended its contract with the agency. The RCMP laid charges against the agent, who was convicted in Oct. 2015. The government received restitution.

The second largest loss recorded was $5,924 in the Ministry of the Environment, due to a contract employee using a government credit card for unauthorized purchases in August 2015. The loss was originally put in the second quarter report as $1,142 but an internal investigation revealed the higher number.

The Ministry of the Environment is pursuing recovery of the loss and the employee is being terminated.

Another loss within the ministries included up to $4,300 after a Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure employee allegedly stole government assets and supplies for personal gain between 2012 and 2015. The incident was reported to police and the employee resigned. The Ministry is pursuing recovery of the loss.

In another instance, a SaskTel employee received free internet service by allegedly illegally connecting to the network between May 2014 to November 2015, calculated at $759.24. The employee was let go and RCMP received a report.

The employee has not paid SaskTel back yet and the organization plans to do an audit of network test ports at random intervals.

The Saskatchewan Health Organization had one external loss on Oct. 9 when winter tires were stolen from the Meadow Lake Hospital in Meadow Lake, Sask., for a total of $2,400. The theft was reported to the RCMP.