The mayor of Surrey insisted on Friday that developers and members of the public can trust the city’s financial safeguards despite the revelations that a former finance employee of the city allegedly disappointed taxpayers of more than $ 2.5 million.
A day after CBC News revealed the existence of a police investigation into the missing funds, said Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke On the coast Host Gloria Macarenko that the alleged fraud was caught due to the city staff.
“There were irregularities that must be addressed and that is exactly what the city is doing. And I think the public members should know that. They must know that the process is working exactly as it should,” said Locke.
“We are very, very worried and that is why we establish all these processes to ensure that the public bag is careful.”
‘An avid player’
The mayor’s comments follow the news that the Surrey and RCMP Police have been investigating a former city finance employee who resigned in January 2024 after being challenged by a supposedly falsified firm in a check.
CBC does not name the woman, who has not been accused of any crime.
The mayor of Surrey, Brenda Locke, responded on Friday to accusations that a former municipal employee defrauded the city of $ 2.5 million, insisting that she has adequate financial safeguards. It is alleged that the former finance employee channeled hundreds of checks to herself, attracting funds from the deposits made to the city by the developers.
The woman, who had worked for the city for 20 years, allegedly manipulated the system that the city uses to take deposits of the developers to channel the money to the accounts established in her previous legal name, the name of her mother and the name of her business boutique boutique baking pastels.
The money supposedly came from a set of accounts that contain deposits that have been left with the city for 40 years. The woman is accused of changing the names and directions of the beneficiaries.
According to a search warrant obtained by CBC, women’s supervisors followed their unique electronic signature to find 183 checks of those accounts for a total of more than $ 2.5 million, written between 2017 and 2024, most were made to their business.
“It was common knowledge in the office that [the woman] He also had a baking business on one side, “says the search warrant.
“It was also well known that she was an avid player. [She] I would often talk about the experiences he had. “
The husband no longer works for the city
According to the judicial documents obtained by CBC, the city sued the woman and her mother in February 2024, but the details of the lawsuit did not reach the public domain because the civil claim notice was sealed.
The woman’s response, however, is publicly available.
“[She] Expressly denies the accusations of fraud, conversion, conspiracy and breach of the fiduciary duty as it is alleged, “says the judicial document.
The woman’s mother also presented an answer that denied irregularities and claiming that “she delivered her bank cards” to her daughter three weeks after opening the CIBC bank account where the funds were supposedly transferred.
She said she didn’t know that her daughter had not closed her bank accounts.
“At all times, [the mother] I was not aware that [the daughter] He had transferred some of the embezzled funds to CIBC accounts, “said the mother.
It is suspected that a former financial secretary of the city of Surrey defrauded the city of $ 2.5 million. The CBC research reporter Jason Proctor has been following the story.
In his interview with CBC, Locke confirmed that the woman’s husband, who was also an employee of the city of Surrey, is no longer used by the city.
According to the city’s records, the man won almost $ 110,000 in 2022.
Locke said there were no employees who had “contact points” in the investigation.
“I am not aware of the circumstances of why this person left his job here,” he said.
Files deleted after suspension?
The search warrant also raises questions about women’s access to computer files after their departure.
According to the search warrant, after being suspended, the woman’s manager “looked towards the hall and noticed that [the woman] And her husband, who also worked for the city, were in [her] desk.”
The manager “did not think much more that he suspected that he had probably been with the union representative for some time after the meeting,” says the search warrant.
The next day, the same manager said that six files related to women written to women had been eliminated at some point “between 5:20 pm and 5:30 pm the previous day.”
“It was approximately at the same time as [he] observed [the woman] In his desk after the meeting when he was suspended, “says the search warrant.
The files were restored later.
None of the accusations against women or mother have been tested in court.
