Stolen virus relief cash prompts OPP probe

The Ontario Provincial Police anti-rackets squad is investigating a Ministry of Education employee after tens of thousands of dollars was pilfered from COVID-19 relief funds for families.

Senior Progressive Conservative officials told the Star that as many as 400 phoney payments of $200 and $250 were siphoned to fake addresses.

That suggests that as much as $100,000 could have been stolen. The bureaucrat, who had been working from home, has been fired, the government said Friday.

“It’s significant,” said a highranking insider. “But the good news is the theft was detected quickly and police called.”

OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt confirmed the probe, which was first reported by the Globe and Mail late Thursday.

“As the investigation is ongoing, we will not comment further to protect the integrity of the investigation,” Schmidt said. “As this is a criminal investigation, we will not speculate as to the likelihood of charges.”

Attorney General Doug Downey’s office said KPMG has been hired to determine how much was stolen.

“Any abuse of taxpayers dollars is totally unacceptable,” said Downey’s office.

Asecond top government official said the bureaucrat, who has not been identified, “essentially hacked” the Support for Families program, the pandemic plan to help parents with one-time payouts for schooling or other expenses. It gives $200 for every child under 12 and $250 for every special needs child under 21.

The perpetrator allegedly “had around 200 to 400 payments going to the same addresses. It was not the most sophisticated scam,” said the second source. “It’s terrible, though, because we wanted to get this money to people struggling during the pandemic.”

Finance Minister Rod Phillips renewed the popular $380-million program in last week’s budget. While the treasurer emphasized he could not speak to this specific case, he did say “it always disappointing when people take advantage of a situation that is meant to help people in a very difficult time.”