MPs were misled by Revenue Commissioner Bob Hamilton when he under-reported the number of Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees involved in fraudulent claims for COVID-19 pandemic benefits. .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Hamilton initially claimed that there were only “not very many, obviously” but the CRA has now confirmed that hundreds of employees are under investigation..“I don’t have the numbers right in front of me,” Hamilton testified last Feb. 2 at the Commons Public Accounts committee. .“Not very many, obviously. I don’t believe any of those cases have gone into a criminal investigation.”.“Could you provide this committee with the numbers?” asked Conservative MP John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest, NB), chair of the committee. .“I’m afraid ‘not very many’ is not a sufficient answer.”.“I will endeavour to get you those numbers,” replied Hamilton. .The CRA later informed the committee that 10 employees had fraudulently claimed $2,000 in pandemic relief cheques originally intended for jobless taxpayers under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program..In a March 23 Inquiry of Ministry, Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier claimed that the extent of internal fraud was minimal and disclosing the number would pose a risk to privacy..“The specific number of terminations is too small to disclose without creating a privacy risk that could lead to one or more of the individuals being identified,” wrote Lebouthillier..On Saturday, the CRA informed the National Post that 20 employees had been terminated so far, and an additional 600 were still under investigation for claiming jobless benefits while employed by the CRA..The CRA has not provided any public explanation for why the numbers were concealed..On Feb. 2, Conservative MP Michael Kram (Regina-Wascana, SK) revealed fraud involving federal employees falsely claiming jobless benefits during a routine Public Accounts committee hearing..During the testimony of executives from the department of Employment regarding the management of pandemic relief programs, Kram raised a question about whether any employees had been caught claiming benefits..“How many employees were subject to internal investigation?” asked Kram. .“To date, we have terminated 49 individuals,” replied Mary Crescenzi, assistant deputy employment minister..“Forty-nine now former employees at the department were terminated for fraud related to COVID benefits, is that correct?” asked Kram. .“It would be in regard to misrepresentation of their situation when they would be applying for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit,” replied Crescenzi..“How many of those cases were referred to law enforcement?” asked Kram. .“There was no referral to law enforcement,” replied Crescenzi..“Have the monies those 49 employees received been clawed back?” asked Kram. .“Those monies have been established as overpayments that must be repaid and those are being treated as any other Canadian who received benefits they were not entitled to,” replied Crescenzi..“As part of some of our internal investigations, it was discovered some of our employees had availed themselves as any Canadian to apply for Canada Emergency Response Benefits on their own time. I want to be clear they did not use any internal systems in doing so.”
