Hamilton reveals over $700K in annual fraud, waste report for 2022

Hamilton’s auditor is reporting over $700,000 in losses related to cases of fraud, waste or wrongdoing within the city in 2022.

According to the latest annual fraud and waste report, the office was able to prove 32 per cent of 107 allegations received through a confidential hotline from July 2021 to June 2022.

Charles Brown, the city’s auditor, says $710,000 is attributed to waste or mismanagement, which includes an unnamed member of city management awarding “substantial business” to two individuals over a period of several years.

The rest of the $8,000 is linked to fraud.

READ MORE: Support worker arrested after stealing senior’s cash in St. Catharines

One investigation revealed that around $200,000 was found to be missing during a year-end inventory. Since then, the city has been performing monthly inventory reconciliations to monitor for any further discrepancies.

Another investigation discovered 18 iPads were missing after a resident purchased a device on Facebook Marketplace, the first time they powered it up, it displayed “City of Hamilton Remote Management.”

Two workers were fired due to the investigation, while four other employees resigned or retired.

The city says it’s going to improve its training on conflicts of interest and extend the fraud hotline project, which launched in 2019.

READ MORE: Hamilton Centre by-election to take place on March 16