Nova Scotia auditor general to probe books, practices of children’s hospital
Posted Sep 19, 2017 05:27:17 PM.
Last Updated Sep 19, 2017 05:47:34 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s auditor general is passing along records to the police and opening his own investigation into operations of Atlantic Canada’s largest children’s hospital after an expense scandal involving its top executive became public.
Tracy Kitch, former CEO of the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre, resigned last month after an independent review said she owed more than $22,000 for “potentially personal” expenses charged to her corporate credit card.
In addition, the hospital’s chief financial officer has taken a paid leave of absence since the review was completed of expense claims between August 2014 and June of this year.
In a statement, auditor general Michael Pickup announced Tuesday that he intends to conduct financial and performance audits of the IWK’s books and practices.
Pickup said he is “gravely concerned with the ineffectiveness of financial controls and lack of rigor in financial management” at the hospital.
Pickup says the IWK will turn over to police any information related to the former CEO’s expenses for “consideration on any possible legal matters.”
