GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTS AUDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

The Government of Saskatchewan is making swift and effective changes recommended by the Provincial Auditor as a result of two cases of misappropriated government funds.

The Department of Environment and Department of Community Resources and Employment (DCRE) have tightened financial control measures and taken several steps to implement recommendations by the Auditor as quickly as possible.

Among the several measures taken by the departments, some major changes include:

· Strengthening internal controls around emergency cheques within the social assistance program;

· Proper segregation of duties;

· Consolidation of financial processing systems. For example, Environment had 16 financial processing sites across the province and now it has four;

· Increased internal auditing capacity to improve accountability; and

· Increased supervision of fraud, and training of management and staff on fraud awareness.

Since Environment discovered the suspicious payments, an internal audit team reviewed over 9,000 transactions totalling over $10 million. The department has identified a maximum potential loss of $500,000. This audit formed the basis of the auditor's review and the ongoing RCMP investigation.

"Saskatchewan Environment accepts, without reservation, all of the recommendations made by the Provincial Auditor," Environment Minister David Forbes said. "We have focused tremendous effort to ensure Saskatchewan Environment is an accountable and effective organization."

Since discovering these financial irregularities, both departments have made available all information to the RCMP, Provincial Auditor and the Provincial Comptroller's office in their investigations. With guidance from the Provincial Comptroller and the Provincial Auditor, DCRE also completed a comprehensive review of the social assistance system. This review resulted in 35 recommendations for improvement, some of which have already been implemented.

"The Government of Saskatchewan takes these matters very seriously and accepts responsibility," DCRE Minister Joanne Crofford said. "We have learned valuable lessons from these incidents. I'm confident that the changes we are making will strengthen our ability to prevent and detect similar activities."

The Public Service Commission is currently reviewing government processes and guidelines for criminal record checks. This review is underway and a report will be provided to the Minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, Pat Atkinson, by the end of June.

These two cases of loss of public money are not related. The only commonality is they were discovered at approximately the same time in late 2004.

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For More Information, Contact:

Herman Hulshof Community Resources and Employment Regina Phone: (306)787-0916	Art Jones Environment Regina Phone: (306)787-5796
Shelley Banks Public Service Commission Regina Phone: (306)787-6479	Vanessa Gooliaff Beaupre Finance Communications Regina Phone: (306)787-8109