Tip to Ottawa’s Fraud and Waste Hotline finds city employee selling city items on Facebook

Ottawa City Hall (CTV News Ottawa)

A City of Ottawa employee was found to be selling city property on Facebook Marketplace and other employees were discovered working for another employer during city working hours following tips to the city’s Fraud and Waste Hotline.

The auditor general will present the 2024 report on the Fraud and Waste Hotline to the Audit Committee on Feb. 10, outlining the investigations into anonymous tips from city staff and the public last year.

A total of 328 tips were filed through the Fraud and Waste Hotline in 2024, up from 282 reports in 2023 and 210 in 2022. The report, from Auditor General Natalie Gougeon, says there were a total of 650 allegations in the 328 tips to the hotline.

Gougeon’s report shows 30 tips to the Fraud and Waste Hotline were substantiated, including:

• A city employee was found to be selling City of Ottawa property on Facebook Marketplace in violation of the city’s Employee Code of Conduct.
• City employees were found to have been working for a secondary employer during city working hours in violation of the City’s Employee Code of Conduct.
• A city employee was found to have removed city equipment and supplies from a city facility for personal use.
• City employees were found to have violated standard operating procedures by being outside of their assigned work zones and at a “restaurant-related establishment” during work hours.
• A city employee was found to have violated the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, various City of Ottawa Bylaws and operating procedures by driving distracted and smoking in prohibited areas.
• A city employee was found to have, “in error, distributed personal information of colleagues to an internal email list,” according to the auditor general.

The report says city employees were also found to not be working the hours outlined in their employment agreement.

Gougeon’s report does not outline the specific corrective actions taken by the city following the investigations into tips to the Fraud and Waste Hotline, but the report says two employees were terminated and one resigned following investigations.

In December, a city employee was fired and another resigned after an auditor general’s investigation into an alleged kickback scheme to fraudulently pay landlords following a tip to the Fraud and Waste Hotline in 2024. The Ottawa Police Service has launched an investigation.

There were also 34 cases that resulted in increased performance management, 21 days of unpaid suspension for city employees, one letter of discipline issued to an employee and 20 verbal warnings “to communicate expectations and corrective action,” according to the report.

Of the 328 tips to the Fraud and Waste Hotline in 2024, 140 were for “business integrity or compliance” and 117 were related to “misuse or misappropriation of assets.” The report says 138 of the 328 reports were related to Transit Services, 42 involved staff at Public Works, 21 with Community and Social Services and 20 tips about Emergency and Protective Services.

The auditor general says 116 tips were investigated in 2024, while 47 were redirected to a city department or union executive, 49 were closed due to insufficient information or no response and 33 tips did not fall under the Fraud and Waste Hotline mandate. As of Dec. 31, 2024, 107 investigations remained in progress.

Ottawa’s Fraud and Waste Hotline was launched in 2005 to facilitate the reporting of suspected fraud or waste by municipal employees and the public and is operated by a third party.