Auditor finds 'reign of terror'
Fraser says privacy chief's abuses exceeded her 'wildest dreams': Robillard 'didn't have any idea it was so bad' - Radwanski says no bureaucrat is safe now
Kathryn May
CanWest News Service
nationalpost.com
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
OTTAWA - Auditor-General Sheila Fraser says the scope of the abuses, cronyism, extravagance and misuse of taxpayers' funds uncovered in an investigation of the Privacy Commission was beyond her "wildest dreams."
The long-awaited report exposes abuses on a scale that shocked MPs, bureaucrats and even ministers who say they had no idea of the "reign of terror" and management free-for-all that existed at the commission under George Radwanski, who was named commissioner in the fall of 2000.
The Privacy Commission is now at the centre of at least a dozen investigations, probes and reviews. Ms. Fraser called in the RCMP to investigate several breaches of the Financial Administration Act and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency to investigate unclaimed taxable benefits enjoyed by senior executives.
In turning over her report to the RCMP, Ms. Fraser flagged two $15,000 advance payments made to Mr. Radwanski for which she found no justification. One payment has been repaid, but the second is still owing.
The police have also been asked to examine $200,000 worth of cashed-out vacation leave Mr. Radwanski and three of his executives collected, though they had taken the time off as vacation.
Ms. Fraser said she was "outraged" at the climate of "fear and arbitrariness" that led to a "complete breakdown in controls in all aspects of management."
She said Mr. Radwanski "abdicated" his responsibilities as a deputy minister to ensure the proper running of his department and he and his senior managers simply "turned a blind eye" to abuses of the laws and policies that govern the public service.
Ms. Fraser said she was most "saddened" by the treatment of employees, who described Mr. Radwanski's tenure as a "reign of terror." She said the audit team heard stories of verbal abuse, intimidation, inappropriate comments and workers humiliated in front of their colleagues.
Mr. Radwanski, who had tried to delay the release of Ms. Fraser's report, called it a "vicious and unjustified personal attack" that was rife with "false or distorted characterizations" and ignored his side of the story and his explanations.
He has insisted from the start he did nothing wrong and relied on his senior executives -- especially Julian Delisle, the executive director -- for advice and to handle all "responsibility for administrative and financial management."
If government appointees cannot rely on the expertise of bureaucrats, Mr. Radwanski said, "no one from the Governor-General on down is secure from this sort of attack."
Ms. Fraser said the report was reviewed by lawyers and double-checked to ensure every statement was factual.
She said police may examine the three senior executives who falsified financial statements to Parliament to hide the fact the commission overspent its budget by $234,000.
She found executives were overpaid to the tune of more than $250,000 after the rules for reclassifying jobs, promotions and performance bonuses were manipulated. She also estimates that at least $200,000 of misused money can be recovered -- half of it from Mr. Radwanski.
The report found that workers who displeased Mr. Radwanski were banished to another floor, had their work taken away or contracted out, were excluded from meetings or were not allowed to put their names on reports. Few reported wrongdoing or abuse for fear of reprisal.
The report said Mr. Radwanski treated some employees very well, handing out promotions and raises to favoured candidates or those in his "inner circle." The audit found the commission's practice of "reclassifying jobs" to pay higher salaries "out of control." Dona Vallières, the senior director-general of communications and strategy who accompanied him on most of his foreign trips, and Art Lamarche, his chief of staff, were reclassified twice within months, each move giving them a 10% bump in pay. She said none of the reclassifications or raises could be supported.
She found eight out of 10 executives' jobs were overclassified, which led to overspending and will "cause unnecessary budgetary pressures" for years to come.
Ms. Fraser said favouritism was rife at the commission. Jobs competitions and postings were orchestrated and manipulated so jobs could be steered to whom they wanted.
An untendered contract was given to the girlfriend of Mr. Radwanski's son, Adam, in the summer of 2001. The law student was hired for a position created for her and was paid about 50% more than usual for a student with her education. The next March she was given another contract at a 30% higher pay rate to do "legislative monitoring" from Toronto, where she was attending school. The contract was to run through the summer months when the Parliament was recessed, but was cancelled when she complained she didn't have enough work. Adam Radwanski is an employee of the National Post. George Radwanski insisted he steered clear of her hiring and he did not see any conflict of interest.
The report shows Mr. Radwanski and Ms. Vallières attended conferences and meetings around the world, but Ms. Fraser often found little evidence of business being done and what was done was of "questionable" value.
She said the two spent public funds on travel and hospitality "unreasonably and extravagantly," and repeatedly exceeded the allowable maximum spending limits. Their accommodation for domestic trips expenses exceeded Treasury Board's spending limits 80% of the time, while their lodging for foreign travel exceeded the limits half the time. The two went over the limit for meals 60% of the time. They regularly claimed the meals they had with each other, which was against the rules. They seemed to always book trips at the last minute, stayed in nice hotels, travelled business class and didn't use the government's travel service.
Paul Martin said yesterday he would prevent spending abuses of public money by hiring a financial controller for every department and agency, who would report to a controller general responsible for the overall government.
The prime minister-in-waiting also said he would take a more scrutiny-oriented approach to hiring senior government officials by asking Parliament to decide what government appointments should be reviewed in advance and then allowing a committee to examine potential hires.
Mr. Martin made clear he takes abuse of public money very seriously. "I find it absolutely astounding. There is no doubt that there's a problem here and it's one that the government has to deal with."
(Ottawa Citizen)
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