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(DARREN RATHWELL / iNFOnews.ca)

Taxpayers were on the hook for over $12,000 in home internet and mobile bills, the forensic audit at the Thompson Nicola Regional District revealed.

Investigators found that several years of Telus home internet and mobile services were billed to the regional district from 2014 to 2019.

BDO Canada LLP's forensic audit at the regional district took months to complete and began as an investigation into credit card spending and reimbursements from taxpayer funds.

At some point in the audit, which began in May 2021, investigators began looking at preferred vendors and contractors, along with potential conflicts of interest.

The goal of the forensic audit was to provide insight into potential overspending, but mainly to reveal shortcomings in government policy. Auditors provided recommendations to the board that will help prevent someone within the regional district from taking advantage of its financial policies, or lack thereof.

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The investigation revealed that at least three individuals at the regional district had their Telus home internet paid for through tax funding. For two of them, Telus payments over those years added to more than $5,000 each.

No one, including the three who had Telus services paid for through regional district funds, was named in the forensic audit report. Instead, people and vendors for the regional district were given identifying numbers.

Telus invoices, according to the report, were not addressed to the regional district, but instead to three employees' homes.

Those three were Individual 29, who is believed to be Gill, Individual 53 and Individual 33.

Until Spring 2016, the regional district backup servers were at Gill's home. The regional district moved to cloud services and the physical servers were no longer needed, but between April 2016 and December 2019, home internet, TV and mobile services were provided to Gill's home and charged to Individual 33's corporate credit card.

Between 2014 and 2019, $5,899 in Telus expenses were attributed to Gill, and $5,326 of expenses were attributed to Individual 33.

A person within the regional district noted to investigators that it was unclear why Gill's Telus expenses were paid for by the regional district and why server equipment would be at his home, but was "advised not to question it," the report reads.

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iNFOnews.ca asked regional district board chair Ken Gillis why backup servers would be at a senior manager's home, but he could not say.

"Perhaps that was justifiable back when it happened," Gillis said, adding that it appears over time the payments expanded from backup servers into services that would typically not be provided by an employer.

The audit noted that there were "several" Telus invoices that did not have corresponding receipts for the corporate credit card charges.

Aside from making Telus payments for three people at the regional district, there is also a contractor who had a corporate cell phone provided by the regional district.

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The contractor, named in the report as Individual 13, provided maintenance and renovation services for the regional district "over the past few years."

The audit was contracted to BDO Canada in Spring 2021, and while originally approved for up to $75,000, it cost almost $500,000 once it was finally complete.

Investigators continued to interview until at least Nov. 29, 2021, as they continued beyond the original scope of the forensic audit.

The regional district has implemented some of the recommendations given by BDO, and is working to implement more.

Go here to read the full forensic audit report.

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