I am just astounded.
First of all that they got away with this for as long as they did. I haven't read the whole report and don't have an idea of the full time frame, but the truckload of booze allegation goes back to 2013, and the article says the overspending is in the range of a million dollars. Clearly somebody was asleep at the switch.
And the second thing I'm surprised at is that they would do this at all. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, people get caught with their hands in the cookie jar all the time. I wonder if they spent a moment thinking about how ashamed they'd be if they got caught. Given their high-profile positions, it would be news if they got caught. If some accountant at a private business gets caught embezzling, it might make the back page of the City section on the crime blotter round-up. If high-ranking public officers get removed from the legislature building by the police, it's gonna make the news.
Darryl Plecas is the Speaker of the House, and he was the guy who got booted from the Liberals when he agreed to take the Speaker position. It's not clear to me if his role in launching this investigation is because of his position as Speaker, or if that's coincidental and he contacted the RCMP because of what he learned while traveling with Lenz and James. I would think the fact that Plecas called in the RCMP to investigate the matter prior to the removal of James and Lenz from their positions means there's a good possibility that there will be criminal charges. I hope so, at least.
It's dumb, yes... but was that one particularly malicious and/or fraudulent? Old man and technology.
I think the article says it was his home computer.
-k