Acts of Founded Wrongdoing
A serious breach of a code of conduct established under section 5 or 6
The Global Affairs Canada Senior Officer for Internal Disclosure (SOID) received a disclosure of wrongdoing under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA), alleging wrongdoing under section 8 (a) a contravention of any Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, or of any regulations made under any such Act, (b) a misuse of public funds or a public asset, (e) a serious breach of a Code of Conduct and (f) knowingly directing or counselling a person to commit a wrongdoing.
The investigation concluded that a senior executive in one of Canada’s missions abroad misused public funds by repeatedly claiming amounts exceeding their entitlements in the form of car rentals and taxis for personal use, accommodations, and upgrades to business class flights. The senior executive reimbursed the amount identified during the investigation. The investigation also found that the senior executive did not provide adequate disclosure of their outside activities and assets related to their membership on an external Board of Directors and did not take appropriate measures to prevent a conflict of interest. Given the high level of seniority and trust the senior executive occupied within the organization, and the potential impact of the breach on the public trust, the breaches to the Departmental Values and Ethics Code are considered serious.
The investigation concluded that the senior executive committed wrongdoing as described in paragraph 8 (b) and (e), that being a misuse of public funds and a serious breach of a Code of Conduct.
The senior executive resigned before the conclusion of the investigation. The Senior Officer for Internal Disclosure (SOID) recommended that the delegated manager consult the Labour Relations division about the possibility of taking disciplinary and administrative actions against the senior executive, as well as review and reassess the senior executive’s performance assessment rating in relation to the findings of this report; that relevant information be shared with the Personnel Security division to determine whether the senior executive’s security clearance should be reviewed; and that senior executives abroad be reminded of their obligations towards disclosing outside activities and the prevention of conflict of interests through the annual overseas pre-posting cycle training program.