Auditors identified improper contracting at Canadian embassies and consulates in Central and South America, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .“The audit team noted a contract valued at $500 million, which is unusual since no mission has a budget of that magnitude,” said the audit. .“This was confirmed to be an error.”.Auditors said this contract never reached the signature point or ratification, and no payment was made against it. They said existing system controls “did not prevent the recording of such a high amount.”.Auditors examined contracts approved by diplomats at 26 missions in places such as Mexico City, Managua, Bogota, and Lima. Global Affairs Canada contracting in Central and South America from 2018 to 2021 totalled $111 million..Of the 278 contracts sampled at random, auditors said 49 of them did not have documented evidence demonstrating they were approved at the appropriate level, 37 lacked proper signatures, 15 had missing invoices, and two involved contract splitting. .“Eighty-nine contracts did not have complete copies of contracts uploaded into the financial administration system,” said the audit. .Auditors have conducted investigations at embassies worldwide since Global Affairs Canada discovered in 2017 a $1.7 million fraud ring at the Canadian embassy in Haiti. Thirteen employees were fired..An audit on Canadian embassies around the world in 2021 found significant problems at two in Africa. .READ MORE: Audit discovers major problems in two Canadian embassies in Africa.The worst audit finding was in Addis Ababa, where investigators discovered diplomats hid the $145,000 cost of a party pavilion in their budget and complained they did not have enough money to fix the air conditioners..Staff buried the expense in their finances as regular maintenance and faked invoices.
