Canada Fires 120 Tax Revenue Agency Workers For Covid Benefit Fraud

[Economy 52,844]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cerb-cra-120-employees-1.6954348

 

Canada is now up to 600 suspect cases in investigation with 120 of them comfirmed and the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) workers fired. They will also be required to pay back the money and in some cases possibly face criminal charges

 

Canada thru the CERB program provided $2000/month in relief for workers who lost job during pandemic or faced hour cuts below a certain low threshold.

 

Because of the rush to get the money out quickly during a difficult time, screening to verify eligeability was limited. As a result many people who were still employed claimed the benefit and got payed anyway

 

The Revenue agency has since been going after people it caught defrauding the system and collected billions back thus far. But fascinating is how many fraudsters were workers of the agency itself

[Economy 52,844]

I know at least 2 ppl that falsely claimed the benefit and never got caught. Given the sheer volume of ppl whp got payed this out in a short period of time, i think many will never get caught

 

Im also not surprised the agency had so many fraudsters in there. They knew behind the scenes the government wasnt really checking at the time and probably thought they could get away with it. Some probably didnt realize how hard the government would crack down later to collect money back once things calmed down