Global Affairs Canada has dismissed 22 employees and reprimanded dozens of others after receiving more than 200 complaints in the past year. The annual report on professional misconduct compiles files ranging from ethical shortcomings to tax fraud through intimidation. Here are some cases that occurred in this vast ministry located in 112 countries around the world.
Seven years of false receipts
Cases of financial fraud are commonplace in the government apparatus. The ministry has pinned an employee who presented falsified receipts for seven years “in order to fraudulently receive compensation, distorting and intentionally concealing facts” to his superiors. The person has been dismissed, but the story does not say if the sums – not specified – have been reimbursed.
A paid ploy
In the same vein, World Affairs dismissed a final end of a foreign mission which led a ploy to afford attractive bonuses. For four years, he organized himself to pay excess wages to employees of the office recruited on the spot and then ordered them to pay him these amounts, “which he illegally kept”. “The ministry has taken legal measures to obtain a reimbursement of the funds due to it.”
The family above all
An employee was dismissed after participating in the hiring of friends and family members, “without disclosing the conflict of interest”. The investigation made it possible to dig up “several other inappropriate acts”. He has, for example, attempted to negotiate the salary of a family member during hiring. He also enabled some of his colleagues to teleworking, “contrary to the requirements of presence in the workplace”.
A princely couple
Certain executives senior mission from Canada abroad benefit from the generosity conferred by their post. The report reports an employee and his spouse who have asking for employees of the office “to carry out personal tasks for them, during their remunerated working hours”. The princely couple also made a “systematic” use of the armored vehicle of the mission without assuming the costs. The employee resigned during the investigation.
Abuse official networks
Global Affairs notes a marked drop in the improper use of government computers and phones due to better awareness compared to the previous year. However, 25 genus offenses were committed during the year, including 15 linked to the consultation of “adult content” and 8 to the use of unauthorized software such as the famous “mouse agitators”, which allow people to be active while they are far from the computer.