Credit card statements from former CEO of Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) show that Jeff Garrah spared no expense when it came to entertainment.
On Thursday, the current CEO of Kingston Economic Development (KED), Donna Gillespie, said a freedom of information request ordered by a community group who call themselves Friends of Kingston brought up expenses on KEDCO’s 20 or so corporate credit cards between 2010 and 2015 that would not have been accepted under current policies.
Garrah has not responded to several attempts for comment. Gillespie was not able to respond to the multiple questions posed by Global News because she said she was in meetings all day Friday. But on Thursday, Gillespie did say no spending from former staff was deemed fraudulent or excessive, since all spending was approved under policies of the time.
Nevertheless, KED allowed media outlets, including Global News, to access all credit card statements unearthed through the freedom of information request.
The five years of Garrah’s credit card statements showed charges including cups of coffee, multiple charges to Via Rail and airlines, as well as purchases from the LCBO, the Beer Store and Farm Boy.
Gillespie noted on Thursday that when going through all the credit card statements, KED found 22 visits to the Original Six Sports Bar, a now-defunct bar within the Plaza Gentlemen’s Lounge, between 2010 and 2015.
Global News counted 15 expenditures at the Original Six Sports Bar on Garrah’s credit card statements between 2010 and 2015. His credit card showed four charges at the sports bar in a three-week span between April 11 and May 1, 2014. One of those expenses reached over $200.
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Other notable expenses were the frequent charges to Via Rail Montreal and airline charges in Winnipeg.
For example, on Dec. 6, 2011, Garrah’s credit card made three Via Rail purchases in Montreal on the same day: one for over $690, one for $220 and another for $230.
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On November 28, 2011, Garrah’s credit card statement showed four identical airline charges from Winnipeg for $675 each.
There were also several large-ticket expenses for shows in Kingston.
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On Dec. 2, 2013, he charged $1,110 to the credit card for Gordon Lightfoot tickets, $711 for Barenaked Ladies tickets and $1,134 for Il Divo tickets.
There is no indication on the credit card statements whether the purchases were for personal or professional use.
Garrah’s credit card shows items like a cash advance of $1,500 in early January 2012 and a $370 purchase at the LCBO in August 2014 with no explanation.
There were also small purchases that may have been hard to explain as expenditures, like one at Bob’s Butcher in July 2014 for over $41, another at Vanilla Bean Ice Cream in Westport for $4.20 in the summer of 2014, and an $87 charge to a passport office in Ottawa.
Garrah’s monthly credit card statements would range from over $1,000 a month to over $6,000.
Other than the big-ticket items, Garrah’s credit card statements show a consistent pattern of restaurants and hotels.
This is something Gillespie highlighted in her news conference on Monday.
“The records do show that there was a lot of activity at local restaurants and bars, hospitality with food and beverage at sporting and entertainment events, adult entertainment venues, golf clubs and officers messes,” she said.
On March 24, 2011, Garrah’s credit card paid for three identical charges at the Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau of over $160.
On Jan. 18, 2012, Garrah’s credit card shows two separate payments from a Marriott hotel in San Francisco for over $950 each.
Gillespie has not responded when asked if the questionable spending was limited to Garrah’s credit cards, or if other staff members’ credit cards also showed similar expenses.
The freedom of information request produced five boxes of financial documents, all of which could only be accessed by appointment with KED. Media were not allowed to make copies, take footage of the papers or keep their phones with them when they looked over the documents.
Global News was only allotted enough time to look through Garrah’s credit card statements. A staff member from KED said he also expensed items from his personal credit card, documents Global News has yet to see.
Nadine Lollar, chair of Friends of Kingston, said she picked up the group’s copy of the documents on Friday.
“We waited five years for this. We’re going to hope the documents are all there,” Lollar told Global News.
Despite KED thanking Friends of Kingston for going through the freedom of information request process and bringing these issues to light, Lollar believes the organization only produced the documents because they were forced to by law.
Originally, when the group made the request, KED said it would cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce the documents they wanted. In the end, the process cost KED over $10,000. They have promised not to make Friends of Kingston pay more than $7,000 of that.
As for what the organization did release — namely, the expenditures at the Original Six Sports Bar — Lollar believes there’s much more to be gleaned from the massive dump of documents.
“I think of it as an iceberg; all they’re giving us is one little nugget.”
Gillespie made it clear that policies for checking the CEO’s financial records have changed since Garrah left in 2015 and she became CEO.
When Garrah was in charge, there was limited oversight over his expenses. Gillespie said only the chair of the board was tasked with approving his expenses. The two chairs of the board who worked between 2010 and 2015 were Dean Byrnes and Derek Winton, who held volunteer positions and both had professions outside of KEDCO.
Now, CEO spending is overviewed by two board members and made available to the organization’s financial committee.
This is a developing story. Global News will continue to follow it as it unfolds.
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