Saturday, November 25, 2006

A former senior bureaucrat with Alberta's anti-addictions agency created
$634,000 in ''false contracts'' to spend most of it on his own gambling,
auditor general Fred Dunn reported Thursday. Lloyd Carr, the former
executive director of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission's
tobacco reduction unit, also kept his past criminal record from him bosses,
and falsely claimed to have a university degree, Dunn also found. The RCMP
is conducting a criminal investigation and Alberta Justice and the drug
abuse commission are considering a civil action. Carr's job was terminated
in September. The ''diverted'' funds involved four commission contracts
with Alberta Lung Association, purportedly for a school anti-smoking
program, and a smaller one with anti-tobacco lobby Action on Smoking and
Health totalling $634,250. Carr, who signed the contracts, wound up
receiving $441,298 of it himself, Dunn's report said. Of that, $116,000 was
taken from banking machines in casinos, $91,000 was used as a house
downpayment and $60,000 to repay a vehicle loan, Dunn wrote in his special
report. Carr ''told us he had a gambling problem and confirmed his
involvement in the five contracts as described in this report,'' the report
said. Dunn also found the former director was ''able to take advantage of
weaknesses and circumvent controls in AADAC's contracting system.'' There
was no evidence the commission, Alberta Lung or Action on Smoking and Health
''knowingly supported'' the fund diversions, although the two contractors
and another consultant retained ''handling fees'' of their own, Dunn said.
The auditor general also conducted five other audits of government
departments or public bodies. Among the other findings:
- Lakeland College received $215,465 in fees from a private contractor to
provide training for foreign students. But for much of that payment, ''no
training was provided to any students under these contracts,'' Dunn wrote.
The RCMP is also probing this file, which the Edmonton Journal has
previously reported involved welders brought in from Poland.

- Dunn's office has referred a file to the chief electoral officer,
following its own probe of allegations Aboriginal Affairs Minister Pearl
Calahasen received a 2004 election contribution from a Metis
Settlement-owned corporation contrary to election finance laws.

- Grant MacEwan College announced a $250,000 ''donation'' from a
construction firm that was bidding to build the Robbins Health Learning
Centre, and would later get the contract. It created a bad perception, Dunn
wrote, even though it seems the money did not affect the tendering process.
In fact, the publicly heralded contribution was not a donation but a payment
based on another building project, despite what was announced.

Opposition parties are saying this all adds up to gross mismanagement and
lack of supervision of taxpayers' money.