Front entrance to the Thompson Nicola Regional Library in downtown Kamloops. Entrance also gains access to TNRD offices in floors above/via TNRD
A forensic audit has now started into a spending controversy at the Thompson Nicola Regional District.
BDO Canada fraud investigator Simon Padgett says he was in Kamloops on May 5, and spoke with senior managers and examined workplaces.
“So we commenced last week. I was actually on site there last week, with all COVID protocols in place. It’s very important when we do our investigations that we do have an element of being on site, and seeing and touching and being involved in the locale and where people work, and their office situations,” he says.
“We gathered some background information and had initial discussions with senior management, in order to gain an understanding of the background and what’s been happening. The TNRD has provided us with a lot of records and documents. From that, we have a great deal of data, which I personally took back with me to Vancouver.”
Padgett gave that update to regional district board members, who were barred from asking questions so as to keep the investigation arms-length.
He couldn’t say yet how long the audit might take, saying it’s in its very early stages.
The audit will cost taxpayers at least $50,000. It’s being done after a Kamloops This Week report from February showed more than $517,000 in taxpayer money was spent on former CAO Sukh Gill’s credit card over five years, on himself and many TNRD board members and staff. Most of the spending was at high-cost discretionary locations, like fine restaurants, luxury hotels, wineries and coffee shops.
Taxpayers also spent $520,000 in a settlement package for Gill when he suddenly left the TNRD in February of 2020. Legally, the regional district is forced to call it a retirement.
NL News has frequently called Gill asking for his comment or explanation of the situation, but has never gotten a call back.
In March, the TNRD board approved doing an audit of how taxpayer dollars were spent between 2015 and 2020. Padgett says he’s still trying to figure out the scope of the audit, and says he could go back even further than 2015.
