The City Auditor has just presented the City of Hamilton’s third Fraud and Waste Annual Report and if it were baseball, he’d be batting 320. today. A total of 107 reports were received and assessed by the Office of the City Auditor (OCA) between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022 – the highest number received to date. Complaints range from time theft through waste, incompetence, conflict-of-interest to outright fraud.
The Fraud and Waste Hotline provides City employees, contractors, vendors and members of the public with a convenient, confidential and anonymous way to report suspicion or proof of wrongdoing.
Among the results from the investigations in this report there were two terminations and four other actions (includes employee resignations, retirement and process improvements implemented).
The Fraud and Waste Hotline was established to help protect City assets and reduce losses. As of December 31, 2022, the amount of confirmed loss or waste substantiated by the OCA was $718,000. Of this amount, $8,600 was fraud, $709,400 was waste. Also, as of December 31, 2022, the City has recovered approximately $5,300 of losses and approximately $2,000 in City assets since the last Annual Report was issued.
Since the Fraud and Waste Hotline pilot launched in July 2019, the cumulative total of actual and potential losses investigated is approximately $1.16 million with about $33,300 recovered via repayments/restitution/asset recovery.
Additional Resources
• Fraud and Waste Annual Report (July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022)
• Fraud and Waste Annual Report infographic (also attached)
• Hamilton.ca/Fraud
Commented Charles Brown, City Auditor & Auditor General, “for a third year, the volume of reports received through the Fraud and Waste Hotline has increased. In fact, this trend has continued into the fourth year of implementation as we’ve seen the highest ever volume for a six-month period (74 reported complaints). It is clear the Hotline is not only a well used and effective tool to quantify and prevent fraud, waste and other wrongdoing; it also helps foster the City’s commitment to transparency and accountability.”
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