Ontario ex-bureaucrat sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to $47.4M fraud

Publisher
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Date published
April 2023

Relevant impacts: Government outcomes impact, Reputational impact, Industry impact, Security impact.

A former bureaucrat accused of embezzling public funds has pleaded guilty to stealing $47.4 million from the Ontario government. The Ministry of the Attorney General says a judge sentenced Sanjay Madan to ten years in prison on Tuesday after a joint submission from the defence and the Crown.

Madan had a senior IT role and helped develop a computer application related to a COVID-19 relief benefit before he was fired in 2020. His wife and two sons all worked for the province in information technology. Madan had faced two counts of fraud over $5,000 and two counts of breach of trust, which alleged he illegally issued and banked cheques aimed to offset the cost of kids learning at home during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

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Related fraudster personas

The Concealer

The Concealer hides their actions from being seen or known about to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

The Exploiter

The Exploiter uses something for a wrongful purpose to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

Related countermeasures

Governance, accountability and oversight

Establish governance, accountability and oversight of processes by using delegations and requiring committees and project boards to oversee critical decisions and risk. Good governance, accountability and oversight increases transparency and reduces the opportunity for fraud.

Managerial, independent or expert oversight

Make sure a manager, independent person or expert oversees actions and decisions. Involving multiple people in actions and decisions increases transparency and reduces the opportunity for fraud.

Random allocation

Randomly allocate requests or claims to staff for processing. This removes the option for staff to select which claims to process.

Segregation of duties

Separate duties by allocating tasks and associated privileges for a business process to multiple staff. This is very important in areas such as payroll, finance, procurement, contract management and human resources. Systems help to enforce the strong separation of duties. This is also known as segregation of duties.

Complaints handling

Allow clients, staff and third parties to lodge complaints about actions or decisions they disagree with. This may identify fraud or corruption as a cause for complaints, such as a failure to receive an expected payment.

Audits or reviews

Internal or external audits or reviews evaluate the process, purpose and outcome of activities. Clients, public officials or contractors can take advantage of weaknesses in government programs and systems to commit fraud, act corruptly, and avoid exposure.

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