A federal RCMP unit will be taking over an investigation into potential criminality at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
According to Kamloops Staff Sgt. Simon Pillay, the Federal Serious and Organized Crime (FSOC) Financial Integrity Unit will bring the expertise and resources necessary to ensure a thorough investigation.
“FSOC will be the lead investigative unit for this case and Kamloops RCMP will assist them as needed,” he said, in a statement.
Back on March 23, Kamloops RCMP say they were contacted by members of the TNRD, who “presented investigation they believed may be associated to criminality.”
“Following an assessment of the information presented, the Kamloops RCMP was able to establish a better understanding of the scope of that investigation and conduct internal consultations surrounding the most appropriate and timely police response in terms of resourcing and expertise,” Pillay added.
Speaking to NL News, FSOC Sgt. Kris Clark, the move comes more as a resourcing solution and does not necessarily represent an escalation of the investigation into the TNRD.
“In this particular case, after the consultation process it was determined that this investigation fit our mandate and we had the available expertise and resources to continue forward with it. So it’s been transferred,” he said.
“I really can’t get into the details obviously but essentially what we’ve discussed here is resources and expertise. So what that entails is resources we typically talk about – that’s personnel. People that are trained in financial investigations.”
This is the same unit that led the investigation into improper spending allegations at the BC Legislature.
The TNRD meanwhile is doing its own third-party review into the regional district’s financial records and expenses., led by BDO Canada.
“The TNRD is looking forward to working with BDO who will receive full cooperation from the TNRD to carry out their work,” TNRD CAO Scott Hildebrand said last month. “All findings of the forensic audit and the financial review as well as any recommendations will be made public.”
The audit comes after a report from Kamloops This Week showed more than $517,000 of taxpayers money was expensed by former CAO, Sukh Gill between 2015 and 2020. Much of that spending was on luxury hotels, fine restaurants, coffee shops, golf courses and other high-end discretionary locations, for himself and other TNRD directors and staff.
Hildebrand previously told NL News that taxpayers can be assured that he is not spending money the way his predecessor was.
– With files from Brett Mineer