Documents reveal hundreds of ‘high-risk misconduct’ cases at Canadian Revenue Agency

[polly7]

DANIEL LEBLANC

OTTAWA— From Monday's Globe and Mail (includes update)
Published Sunday, Apr. 29, 2012 6:25PM EDT
Last updated Sunday, Apr. 29, 2012 9:47PM EDT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/documents-reveal-hundreds-of-high-risk-misconduct-cases-at-canadian-revenue-agency/article2417302/

Allegations of corruption that have rocked the Montreal offices of the Canada Revenue Agency are just a fraction of the total instances of “high-risk misconduct” reported at the federal tax agency every year, records show.

The CRA has dismissed seven officials from its Montreal offices in connection with an RCMP investigation into allegations of fraud and corruption involving senior team leaders and auditors at the tax-collection agency.

Documents show that over the past eight years the CRA has identified a total of 456 founded cases of high-risk misconduct across the country, an average of 57 a year. The CRA defines these cases as involving breach of trust, conflict of interest, falsification or destruction of documents, fraud, off-duty conduct, abuse of authority, and unauthorized access or disclosure of confidential information.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. from personal experience, this doesn't surprise me.

For the most part they are a nasty bunch, and they make little difference between those unable to pay and those unwilling to pay. As a small business owner I had substantial dealing with them, and even filed a complaint to a have a collector removed from my file after he let go a tirade of of threatening foul language at my wife and I. After some time he was removed, but I doubt any disciplinary action was taken. A new collector was assigned to my file and he commented off the record once, that the CRA operated like organized crime when it came to usury, and extortion. That I believe. I don't if its true or not, but I have read elsewhere that CRA collectors get performance bonuses based upon how much they can collect, and that is one reason why they throw their full weight on an easy mark, while letting the big fish go.

[polly7]

2. I agree with you.

Last edited Tue May 1, 2012, 10:39 AM - Edit history (1)

Right now I have two friends ...... a husband and wife, who are actually in jail in Regina over a bunch of crap that was more of a misunderstanding than anything. They went to court and she spoke her mind a little too much - making the judge very angry. His parents are elderly and in poor health. Some busybody made sure to call them and let them know their son, the person who's running the farm they started 80 years ago ... is in jail, even though they should be out in about two weeks. I'm worried that one or both parents may have an MI or stroke over all this.

My friends hired an accountant who specializes in fixing these sorts of things ...... CRA didn't accept anything he offered or even acknowledge they'd received it. I believe it when you say you've read CRA collectors get performance bonuses. These people are more than willing to pay any arrears and penalties, yet they were still taken away from their cows having calves, his work in the oil-patch, everything. The amount they owe isn't large by any means, either. He basically screwed up with GST for a long time and should have known better, but didn't bother. He doesn't deny it, but now is paying ... hard.

Yes, they can be nasty.