Golf with vendors, free booze and stolen tools: 5 takeaways from Hamilton's annual fraud report

Fraternizing on the golf course, free booze for a Christmas party and international trips with city vendors are among the incidents of waste and mismanagement that resulted in a loss of $235,000 for the City of Hamilton last year, according to a new report.

The findings of the Annual Report of Fraud and Waste where presented to the audit, finance and administration committee by city auditor Charles Brown on Thursday.

It detailed 80 complaints his office received between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, 32 per cent of which were substantiated.

Here's a look at five takeaways from the report:

The report outlines that, following investigations, eight city employees were fired.

One other employee received disciplinary action, it adds, and five others corrective actions, including meetings, letters to lawyers and letters outlining expectations.

A total of $235,000 in loss or waste was substantiated since last year's report. Of that, $5,000 has been recovered.

A breakdown of that provided by Brown shows $300 of that was in losses and the rest —$4,700— in restitution.

The city's fraud and waste hotline was set up in 2019.

It received 85 reports that year, slightly higher than the 80 fielded this time around.

The report also notes that since the hotline was launched, $439,000 in actual and potential losses were investigated and $26,000 has been recovered.

An investigation that started with a public complaint about two city employees playing golf with a vendor during business hours resulted in the Office of the City Auditor (OCA) uncovering an estimated $233,00 in waste and mismanagement.

The staffers were reportedly golfing with a vendor vying for a city request for proposal (RFP) that was worth roughly $2 million over three years, according to Brown's report.

The auditor wrote that his team found "evidence of more widespread socializing with a range of vendors."