543 replies to this topic

[shoeflack]

My read on Plecas' statement of "you'll understand why I can't speak when Mullen makes his statement" is that Wally Oppal is shutting down Plecas and Mullen's communications (or lack thereof). They won't speak, they won't take questions.

 

Oppal is going in like a surgery room custodian and giving a full on deep clean to an absolutely bloody mess.

[rjag]

Plecas cant survive this unless his investigation is proven justified. This government is now in crisis

[Nparker]

With only a week remaining on the current sitting of the House I am sure the government wants to make sure everything stays on simmer until at least November 30^th.

[Rob Randall]

The Lieutenant-Governor is going, oh crap I thought this was only a ceremonial gig.

[Rob Randall]

@wakemp
Bill Kempthorne 
I'm betting Ted Hughes turned his cell phone off sometime yesterday

 

[Sparky]

It is quite the interesting controversy and in the era of social media, is much more fast and furious, but Glen Clark's "Casinogate" or "Patiogate"...whatever you want to call it...that toppled his term as Premier. Ended a Premier. That's pretty significant and hard to top, no?

 

Plus we got all those great paparazzi-style shots of Clark fretting about in the kitchen!

 

That shot of Clark looks like Hitler taking a karate lesson from Youtube.

[Bingo]

Friends of friends, advisor to advisor and acting sergeant-at-arms what more can go off of the BC Rails Christmas train-set from the North Pole.

   ....says the speaker

Edited by Bingo, 23 November 2018 - 10:50 AM.

[Torrontes]

What qualifications does Allen Mullen have to be in charge of security at the legislature, other than being a campaign worker for Plecas? The Abbotsford News reported that he was an administrator at a correctional facility and acted as some kind of self-styled "prosecutor" "during prison court cases". What exactly are "prison court cases". Is he a lawyer? https://www.abbynews...lature-scandal/

 

Sounds to me like the speaker had delusions of grandeur and took umbrage with how independently minded the clerk and sergeant-at-arms were, perhaps to the point of insubordination in his view, and wanted to install replacements that were beholden to him. 

[spanky123]

What qualifications does Allen Mullen have to be in charge of security at the legislature, other than being a campaign worker for Plecas? The Abbotsford News reported that he was an administrator at a correctional facility and acted as some kind of self-styled "prosecutor" "during prison court cases". What exactly are "prison court cases". Is he a lawyer? https://www.abbynews...lature-scandal/

 

Sounds to me like the speaker had delusions of grandeur and took umbrage with how independently minded the clerk and sergeant-at-arms were, perhaps to the point of insubordination in his view, and wanted to install replacements that were beholden to him. 

 

I think that is a leap but who knows. Lots of folks in the media have been complaining about expenses at the Leg for years. I think what may be more likely is that Plecas decided to take a hard line on items that had largely been ignored in the past.  Sort of like the liberties that senators have been taking with our money for decades.

Edited by spanky123, 23 November 2018 - 07:29 AM.

[rjag]

I think that is a leap but who knows. Lots of folks in the media have been complaining about expenses at the Leg for years. I think what may be more likely is that Plecas decided to take a hard line on items that had largely been ignored in the past.  Sort of like the liberties that senators have been taking with our money for decades.

 

But wouldnt you use an auditor if its spending practices? Hiring your old pal who was a manager in a prison doesnt seem to me to be the right type of person to look at financial statements to determine impropriety. Maybe there was a lot of soap being dropped in the mens shower...thats when someone with prison experience may be an asset!!!

[spanky123]

But wouldnt you use an auditor if its spending practices? Hiring your old pal who was a manager in a prison doesnt seem to me to be the right type of person to look at financial statements to determine impropriety. Maybe there was a lot of soap being dropped in the mens shower...thats when someone with prison experience may be an asset!!!

 

What I am getting at is something similar to what we had in the senate where someone claims a per diem or expense that may technically be questionable but that nobody has ever challenged in the past. 

[Torrontes]

What I am getting at is something similar to what we had in the senate where someone claims a per diem or expense that may technically be questionable but that nobody has ever challenged in the past. 

 

Possible. A situation where the facts supporting an expense claim are questionable, like "I was forced to work late, so I claimed for dinner in accordance with the rules", but the dinner just happened to take two hours at a fine dining restaurant close to their residence.  Still, that is more of an audit question, not something handed off to someone who clearly has a conflict of interest.

[Mike K.]

Whatever it is it’s been under investigation by Mullen for seven months. And now it’s in the hands of the RCMP. You’d think that if this were a nothingburger the clandestine investigation would have wrapped up and we’d have never heard of it. Maybe that’s why Mullen was brought in? To ensure secrecy?

[Torrontes]

Let's assume you are a CAO and you are suspicious of expense claims or potential kick-backs. Do you go out and hire a friend to act as private detective to secretly watch staff members, or do you call in an internal auditor or forensic accountant?

 

The process followed in this case was improper from the outset and smacks of a hidden agenda, irrespective of whether any wrongdoing is ultimately discovered.

[jonny]

If the RCMP are involved [they are] and it's the Financial Integrity Unit of the RCMP who is doing the investigating [it is], then the only possible thing that is being investigated is fraud. 

 

The fraud is probably but not necessarily larger than something as simple as improper expense claims to have the RCMP involved. From an HR perspective, an improper expense claims issue is very easy to fire somebody over and wouldn't take months and months and involve the police.

 

Interestingly, I was on a course yesterday where we covered a case of a CEO from Saskatchewan who got the boot over $300 worth of fraudulent expenses (bus tickets for his side chick - can you believe it?).  

[Benezet]

How I wish this thread were named “Alan Mullen Investigates”

[Nparker]

Former British Columbia attorney general Wally Oppal is defending the Speaker of the legislature, saying Darryl Plecas was acting on advice when two top officials were placed on administrative leave amid an RCMP investigation...

https://www.cheknews...sions-3-510958/

Yes, but whose advice?

[spanky123]

Let's assume you are a CAO and you are suspicious of expense claims or potential kick-backs. Do you go out and hire a friend to act as private detective to secretly watch staff members, or do you call in an internal auditor or forensic accountant?

 

I don't know and am only speculating, but we can have a scenario where someone is claiming a per diem or perhaps incurring an expense outside of policy that they shouldn't be although it has been common practice to do so for years. You wouldn't need an auditor or forensic accountant to go through receipts and expenses, total them and match them up against policy. Nothing is being hidden or improperly documented.

[bluefox]

My theory:

 

Plecas asked for more money for his office (read: for his own benefit? to hire Mullen back in 2017?) shortly after becoming speaker. James – who manages the leg budgets – turned him down for whatever reason. Plecas demanded an explanation or asked to see the books.

 

James – known for bristling at any outside attempts to review finances under his purview, as evidenced by his fight with the Auditor General back during the Clark government – tells Plecas to go pound sand. In the meantime, Lenz, who is on good terms with James, gets some sort of funding increase for legislature security, which further angers Plecas.

 

Plecas turns it into a personal vendetta and by this point it's January; he brings in his old buddy Mullen as a "special adviser" to conduct a clandestine probe into legislature financial practices. After a few months of poking around, they unearth something they believe is criminal and hand it over to the RCMP. Which brings us to today.

 

It's the only explanation that would even come close to making sense of how this scandal seems to have come out of nowhere; how we ended up with Mullen being the recommended replacement for Lenz; and, how both Lenz and James (if they're telling the truth) claim they have no idea why they are suspended.

 

That being said I doubt this jeopardizes the NDP government. If they fall because of numbers and we have an early election, I suspect Horgan will get a majority. The choice between him and Wilkinson is pretty stark and it hasn't fully matured under the media spotlight yet. And if anything I think the Liberals are lighting their hair on fire over this because they are still bitter over Plecas' defection to take the Speaker's job, and because maybe they believe they'll be implicated in whatever happened, given they were in charge for 16 years.

Edited by bluefox, 24 November 2018 - 07:03 PM.

[Mystic-Pizza]

My Theory:

 

 

Colonel Mustard was too busy messing around in the Billiards room with Miss Scarlet at the time, so it couldn't have been either of them.

 

Mrs. Peacock and Mrs. White were both in the conservatory powdering their noses, so we have to rule them out.

 

The candlestick, the revolver, the knife, the rope and the wrench  were securely locked in a table drawer in the study and only the Butler had the key.

 

So we must rule those dastardly items out as well. 

 

So we must conclude that Professor Plumb did it in the Library with the lead pipe.

 

Good thing we called  Wally Oppal in to investigate and get to the bottom of this.

Edited by Mystic-Pizza, 24 November 2018 - 08:27 PM.