Chief of Saskatchewan Highway Patrol fired over questionable purchases suing the province for wrongful dismissal

The former chief of the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol is suing for damages alleging he was wrongfully dismissed.

Highways Ministry Communications Executive Director Doug Wakabayashi confirmed that Robin Litzenberger was terminated from his position.

In a statement of claim filed in Regina’s Court of Queen’s Bench last December, Litzenberger said his October 2019 firing was based on false allegations, which included improper spending on equipment and dishonesty.

Earlier this week, provincial auditor Judy Ferguson discovered the misuse of purchasing cards, as well as weapons and equipment bought that the patrol technically shouldn’t have.

The audit report was completed back in March of 2019, but was just released on Tuesday, June 23.

“It was an internal report which we shared with the provincial auditor’s office,” said Wakabayashi. “The provincial auditor’s office releases…her office releases their reports annually.”

According to the report, the Highway Patrol had equipment including three 9-millimetre pistols, one AR-10 Carbine, two fully automatic rifles and 12 silencers.

The Highway Patrol also had a shotgun even though specific direction was given to not buy it.

Purchasing cards have a $10,000 limit and anything over $2,500 needs three written quotes. However, the report found that several employees got around that, by splitting transactions for expensive items like bulletproof vests.

The auditor made several specific recommendations to the Highways Ministry including increasing its monitoring of compliance with established transaction limits, implementing policies to better oversee firearms purchases, and implementing better processes to track regulated Highway Patrol equipment.

Wakabayashi says the recommendations have either already been, or are in the midst of being implemented.

“We already have pretty stringent controls on that, but the auditor has made some recommendations to further strengthen those controls, and we are implementing them,” said Wakabayashi.

He won’t say whether Litzenberger has received any severance pay, citing privacy and personnel issues.

A statement of defence filed by the government in January denies Litzenberger’s claim and asks that it be dismissed.

-With files from The Canadian Press