A consultant accused of overbilling the federal government by about $250,000 has been charged with fraud, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced Tuesday.
RCMP announced in a media release that 62-year-old Clara Elaine Visser has been charged with fraud over $5,000.
The RCMP said in the summer of 2021, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) opened an investigation into the federal consultant, who was performing contract work for eight federal government departments and crown corporations.
“The evidence showed that the consultant submitted fraudulent timesheets, resulting in an estimated $250,000 in overbilling between Jan. 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021,” RCMP said in a media release.
PSPC said in a statement that the government had taken “swift action” to suspend the consultant’s security certification in June 2021 and to revoke it two years later in September 2023. The ministry’s statement did not name Visser.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates that the government will not tolerate illegal activity and will bring fraudulent billing practices to justice,” the PSPC statement said.
Canada’s federal procurement agency says three IT subcontractors have been reported to police for suspected fraud after invoicing multiple departments for the same work over the years, the latest in a series of allegations of mismanagement in the civil service.
“Safeguarding taxpayers’ money is crucial to ensuring accountable and transparent governance,” Guillaume Bertrand, a spokesman for Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, said in a separate statement.
“Those who abused our rapid COVID response or filed fraudulent claims must be punished,” Beltran added.
Duclos said in March that recent investigations had uncovered schemes of fraudulent billing between 2018 and 2022. He also said the department had revoked the security clearances of those contractors and was taking steps to recover the money.
Police said Visser is scheduled to appear in court in September.
