According to a new report, the former head of Newfoundland and Labrador’s liquor corporation committed misconduct and withheld over 600 pages of emails during a past investigation related to a fine wines program.
The report released today by the province’s citizens’ representative, Bradley Moss, says the emails documented a business relationship between former NLC CEO Steve Winter and his son, from whom Winter purchased millions of dollars of wines to be sold in NLC stores.
Moss says Winter withheld the emails during an investigation that his office launched in 2015 after someone complained Winter’s dealings with his son’s company represented a conflict of interest.
The report says Winter was required by law to provide the emails to the investigator, and without them, the citizens’ representative’s office incorrectly concluded that Winter had not been in contact with his son about the sales and therefore had committed no misconduct.
In 2019, the province’s auditor general investigated and found that in fact, Winter was in communication with his son and made purchases of high-end French wines – some of which were priced at thousands of dollars a bottle – that directly benefited his son.
In his report today, Moss says it’s too late to press charges against Winter and recommends that fines for obstructing investigations by his office be raised from $500 to $10,000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2020.