The City of Ottawa’s Auditor General says three City employees were fired in 2017, following investigations started through the City’s confidential fraud and waste hotline.
In a report tabled at Thursday’s Audit Committee meeting, Ken Hughes says there were 192 reports made to the hotline last year, 39 of which were substantiated and uncovered some kind of wrong-doing.
In one case, the report says, an employee was fired after it was discovered they were submitting phony reports and leaving work early. The 90 reports were deleted, forcing staff to repeat the work.
In another case, an employee was found to be giving confidential information to other employees and friends in order to help them pass provincial tests. The employee may have even taken some or all of a test on behalf of someone else.
The third employee who was terminated was found to be inappropriately handling what the report calls “controlled substances and falsified documents.”
In other cases, employees were disciplined. Some were spoken to, others were suspended. The report cites one case of a City employee accused of stealing a patient’s medication while on duty. The employee was suspended and criminally charged but, after completing a direct accountability program, the charges were dropped and the employee was reinstated.
Hughes’ report found calls to the fraud and waste hotline were down 33% in 2017 compared to the year before. The number of reports spiked in 2015, with 319, and has been declining since.
Hughes suggests this is the result of a better attitude at City Hall.
“While reporting by employees and the public has declined, a significant value of the Hotline continues to be improving the ethical culture at the City and changing attitudes to deter fraud and waste,” Hughes said in the report.
You can read the full report here.