Report says Ministry of Highways defrauded of more than $500K

An act of fraud has cost the Saskatchewan government more than $500,000.

In the report of public losses among ministries and Crown corporations for the fourth quarter of the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Ministry of Highways reported a loss of $509,380 that occurred in March.

“Banking information was fraudulently changed by someone impersonating a supplier,” read the report that was issued Monday. “As a result, three payments to the supplier were redirected to an inappropriate bank account.”

The report said police are investigating and the ministry is “pursuing recovery of the loss.”

Highways Deputy Minister Blair Wagar told 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick the ministry has taken steps to make sure the government system is still secure, noting it was a system outside of the government realm that was breached.

The deputy minister said he’s optimistic the funds will be recovered. The focus now, he said, is making sure the government makes fixes if there are things that could be done to avoid similar occurrences.

He said the information the government has collected to date suggests the fraudster wasn’t a government employee, but Wagar noted it’s expected to take a while to find the person responsible.

Wagar explained that someone was able to get into the vendor’s system, or was able to gather detailed information from a vendor. The perpetrator then was able to use the information they gleaned to communicate with one of the ministry’s staff and pretend to be the vendor.

Wagar said the government isn’t in a position to share the identity of the vendor or their role.

The government isn’t sure when the fraudster was able to access the information, Wagar said; it could have been months before the fraud occurred.

Other losses

The Saskatchewan Housing Corporation reported a loss of $9,313 after rent payments were misappropriated by contracted managers.

“Two Broadview Housing Authority contracted managers had previously resigned,” the report said. “The matter was reported to the police and is under investigation.”

The third public loss involved the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation. The report said the foundation lost $8,500 when a contracted administrator “fraudulently inflated salary payments to themselves.”

The individual was fired and the money was recovered, plus interest, the report said. Police investigated, but charges weren’t filed.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority reported a loss of $1,070, the result of an employee based in Prince Albert taking money and tools from a supervisor’s office in late January.

After an internal investigation, the employee was fired. Prince Albert police were called, the report said, but they concluded their investigation without pursuing charges.

There weren’t any losses of money or property reported by the Ministry of Advanced Education at Saskatchewan Polytechnic or the province’s regional colleges.