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Evelyn Hynes:
One thief caught. How
many more to go?
- Misappropriated funds
'a huge breach of trust'
Gov't will get some answers and find missing $1M: Calvert
James Wood, with Randy Burton
files, The StarPhoenix, January 25, 2005
REGINA -- More than $1 million
in government funding meant to help "the poorest of the
poor" has been misappropriated over 10 years from the Department
of Community Resources and Employment, the provincial government
confirmed Monday.
Community Resources Minister
Joanne Crofford also said that the government did not know until
it was reported by the CBC on Monday that the Saskatoon-based
employee fired in connection with the case had been convicted
of fraud against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Newfoundland
in 1984.
In a press conference at the
legislature, Crofford said Evelyn Hynes, a social worker who
served as manager of income security, was hired in 1989, while
the department only instituted criminal record checks for employees
in sensitive positions in 1997.
Crofford called the situation
"a very huge breach of trust" while Premier Lorne Calvert
promised the government would get to the bottom of the case.
"I would say to those
for whom these specific dollars were destined, this is not tolerable
in the community of Saskatchewan. We have a long tradition of
caring for our neighbours, particularly those who have least
among us, our neighbours in need. This is simply not tolerable
in the province of Saskatchewan," he told reporters at the
economic summit in Saskatoon.
Crofford would not elaborate
on what breaches had taken place, citing the ongoing RCMP and
governmental investigation of the case. No charges have yet been
laid, according to the RCMP.
The Saskatchewan Party said
the government is talking tough now but has failed to heed continuing
warning signals from the provincial auditor and others.
"For the last 20 some
years there has not been an increase to the food allowance because
the government pleads poverty and at the same time they're not
putting in controls to address the money that's being spent in
the department," said Community Resources critic Brenda
Bakken.
"This is not an isolated
case," she added, saying that the government is ignoring
another case within the department that she has been trying to
bring to their attention.
Provincial auditor Fred Wendel
has repeatedly raised concerns that Community Resources, once
known as Social Services, was not doing enough to ensure only
eligible people received social assistance. He repeated the concern
as recently as his fall 2004 report, released last month, although
he also acknowledged the government has taken steps to increase
its oversight.
Wendel was out of the province
and unable to comment Monday.
OFFICE WORKERS HAD CONCERNS
Crofford said that employees
in Community Resources' Saskatoon office raised concerns about
financial irregularities on Dec. 1 after a regular review of
social assistance files.
The government announced on
Dec. 21 that an employee in Community Resources and an employee
in Environment had each been suspended in unrelated cases of
"financial irregularities" within their departments.
On Jan. 6, Hynes was fired.
"I believe this heightened
awareness of compliance and staff training has led to the financial
irregularities being identified," said Crofford.
The minister said extending
criminal record checks would mean a huge use of RCMP resources
but the government will consider taking such steps as doing them
retroactively for employees hired before 1997.
According to reports, Hynes
received a pardon for her crime, which involved defrauding CIBC
of over $600,000 in her position as an assistant loans officer
in Corner Brook by issuing loans to fictitious people. A pardon
means it would not have appeared on a criminal record check.
Hynes could not be reached
for comment Monday.
Wynne Young, deputy minister
for Community Resources, confirmed that Hynes' husband is also
a Community Resources employee who is currently on leave.
Hynes is the only department
employee being investigated by the government in connection to
the misappropriation, said Young.
While the government has now
released a name and a dollar figure in connection with the irregularities
in Community Resources, it is still not doing so for the Environment
department's case.
Donna Johnson, Environment's
director of finance and administration, said she believes the
Community Resource's investigation is further along than that
of her department.
She said at this point there
is no evidence of involvement by any other employee.
"We're doing a full investigation
of the issue," Johnson said. "I don't believe that
we're going to find anything beyond the one employee, but until
the investigation is complete we can never say for a certainty."
Ken Rasmussen, an administration
professor at the University of Regina, said putting in safeguards
for government funding is a difficult balancing act.
"It does seem like that
kind of (misappropriation) should have been caught sooner . .
. obviously there was some systemic flaw in the accounting mechanisms,"
he said in an interview.
"It does sound dubious
but on the other hand, if somebody wants to steal money from
you and is going to take large risks at doing it, there's relatively
little you can do besides having a level of audit and control
that would bring all of government into disrepute."
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2005
Ex-staffer tied to missing
$1M
By CP, January 25, 2005
REGINA -- A provincial social
worker is being investigated in a case involving $1 million in
missing money that had been earmarked for Saskatchewan's poorest
families, the provincial government said yesterday. No charges
have been laid against Evelyn Hynes and she could not be immediately
reached for comment.
Community Resources Minister
Joanne Crofford told a news conference Hynes had a prior criminal
record for fraud that they had not known about.
"It has also come to our
attention that this former employee, first hired in 1989, was
convicted of fraud in another province during the 1980s and subsequently
received a pardon," Crofford said.
She said mandatory criminal
record checks on prospective employees were not instituted until
1997.
FIRED EARLIER THIS MONTH
Hynes worked in the Community
Resources Department until she was fired earlier this month.
Police raided her office, seized
files and a computer.
Crofford said she was disappointed
and angry about the missing money. "This (money) was out
of the income security area, so this would be money that's provided
directly for basic needs of the poorest of the poor -- families
in need," Crofford said.
A CBC report said Hynes worked
as an assistant loans officer at a Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce branch in Corner Brook, Nfld., in the 1980s.
The report said she was convicted
of 22 counts of fraud in a $600,000 scam that involved bogus
loans given to phoney clients. It said she was sentenced to two
years in jail and later applied for and received a pardon.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
