CRA launched 'witch hunt' against whistleblowers who exposed millions in bogus refunds, sources say

The Canada Revenue Agency is on a "witch hunt" to find whistleblowers who may have spoken to the media and exposed how it has been repeatedly duped into paying out millions in bogus refunds to scammers, according to sources.

"The consensus is that management is nervous," one source said. "Any media contacts [they're saying]: 'Don't talk to them at all, don't talk to journalists.' I think they're very much trying to control the narrative."

According to multiple sources, the CRA's senior leadership is anxious, looking for ways to silence employees and to limit media coverage.

Last month, an investigation by CBC's The Fifth Estate and Radio-Canada revealed the tax collector has been keeping Canadians largely in the dark about how many hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds it has wrongly paid out, as well as the extent to which taxpayers have had their CRA accounts hacked by fraudsters.

In response to questions about the validity of its previously released numbers, the CRA in an email Wednesday now says that those numbers could be higher.

"The figures provided represent confirmed fraudulently obtained refunds due to unauthorized use of taxpayer information, at a point in time. Given the inherent complexities of this workload and the evolving fraud landscape, it is possible that the previous numbers will change."

Two weeks ago, CBC reported that tens of thousands of CRA taxpayer accounts were hacked — numbers far larger than what the agency had previously reported to Parliament. CBC/Radio-Canada also reported that the agency wrongly authorized the release of $40 million in bogus refunds to a single bank account without verifying what turned out to be sham documents.

Since those reports, The Fifth Estate/Radio-Canada have heard from multiple insiders who have raised concerns over attempts to downplay the extent of the problems facing the agency.

Sources have described the focus on whistleblowers as a "witch hunt" and say they fear retaliation.

The Fifth Estate/Radio-Canada has also been told that employees believe the CRA is going through computers to see who accessed what files and for what reason.

CBC/Radio-Canada is not identifying the sources because they have not been authorized to speak publicly.

In its emailed response Wednesday, the CRA did not deny it is investigating potential whistleblowers.  

"We take seriously our responsibility to prevent any harmful distribution of protected information and we are dedicated to upholding the integrity of the tax system," a spokesperson said. 

"At all times, the CRA is focused on ensuring that all employees adhere to their duty of loyalty and confidentiality to the CRA, the government of Canada and all Canadians."