Previous Politech message: Canadian privacy commissioner resigns after investigation http://www.politechbot.com/p-04915.html --- http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.asp?id=4AEA2723-A233-400C-906A-D3A5CAC398C0 Auditor finds 'reign of terror' Fraser says privacy chief's abuses exceeded her 'wildest dreams': Robillard 'didn't have any idea it was so bad' - Radwanski says no bureaucrat is safe now Kathryn May Wednesday, October 01, 2003 OTTAWA - Auditor-General Sheila Fraser says the scope of the abuses, cronyism, extravagance and misuse of taxpayers' funds uncovered in an investigation of the Privacy Commission was beyond her "wildest dreams." The long-awaited report exposes abuses on a scale that shocked MPs, bureaucrats and even ministers who say they had no idea of the "reign of terror" and management free-for-all that existed at the commission under George Radwanski, who was named commissioner in the fall of 2000. The Privacy Commission is now at the centre of at least a dozen investigations, probes and reviews. Ms. Fraser called in the RCMP to investigate several breaches of the Financial Administration Act and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency to investigate unclaimed taxable benefits enjoyed by senior executives. In turning over her report to the RCMP, Ms. Fraser flagged two $15,000 advance payments made to Mr. Radwanski for which she found no justification. One payment has been repaid, but the second is still owing. The police have also been asked to examine $200,000 worth of cashed-out vacation leave Mr. Radwanski and three of his executives collected, though they had taken the time off as vacation. ... --- http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.asp?id=F8CDDE55-78FE-4A8B-B01B-AC76FEF6559 8 Payback time Radwanski lived large at taxpayers' expense. He should give back everything he took National Post Thursday, October 02, 2003 The 47-page report from Auditor-General Sheila Fraser on former privacy commissioner George Radwanski, released Tuesday, makes for shocking reading. The abuse of taxpayer money uncovered by Ms. Fraser's auditors was wanton -- even by Ottawa standards. Page after page, paragraph after paragraph, Ms. Fraser enumerates how Mr. Radwanski and favoured members of his senior staff disregarded the government's own Financial Administration Act, awarded lucrative consulting contracts without competition and hired "friends, acquaintances or former colleagues" at will, then paid them 50% or more over what was allowed by pubic service rules. "Over-classification was a major problem," according to the report. Eight of 10 executives, and 15 of 17 junior employees examined had their position descriptions inflated beyond the jobs they were performing so they could be paid salaries well in excess of the allowable limit for civil servants with their actual qualifications and duties. ... _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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