British Columbia's Lottery Corporation has fired its CEO after an ombudsman's report this week found the corporation did not do enough to protect customers from possible retailer fraud.
"The Board of Directors of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation have decided a change of leadership for the organization is required. Therefore the Board has terminated Vic Poleschuk, President and CEO, effective immediately," said a statement from the corporation.
John McLernon, chair of the board of directors, said in the statement that "the board will now turn its focus to implementing the ombudsman's recommendations," and a program of reforms outlined after the release of the report.
The board, which will meet next week to discuss an interim CEO, is confident in the rest of the executive team, said the statement.
Ombudsman Kim Carter's report, released Tuesday, found the lottery corporation did not do enough to look into the cases of retailers who won multiple prizes.
John Les, B.C.'s solicitor general, ordered a sweeping audit over the report, and criticized the conduct of the corporation, but had said it was up to the corporation's board to decide on sanctions against its staff. Mr. Poleschuck had ruled out his own departure or the firings of corporation staff.
The NDP had called for Mr. Les's resignation, saying he was ultimately responsible for the situation. But Premier Gordon Campbell has said he has confidence in Mr. Les.
After the ombudsman's report was filed, Mr. Les ruled out the firings of senior officials, but told a raucous legislature press conference he was disappointed they did not act on the file.
"They should have gotten down there like a rat down a drain pipe and figured it out," Mr. Les said, referring to the corporation's response to suspicions about possible fraud.
"They didn't do that."
While Mr. Les did not rule out criminal charges, no names were listed in the report by ombudsman Ms. Carter, who was following up on concerns about high rates of retail lottery wins in Ontario.
At the time lottery officials insisted there was no evidence that rightful winners were denied their prizes at this point.
Based on five months' work that took her to lottery kiosks for chats with retailers and into the offices of the corporation, Ms. Carter noted there were "serious weaknesses" that worked against the corporation's goals to ensure prizes were paid to the rightful owners of winning tickets.
The corporation's "internal watchdog procedures were inadequate for the purpose of reliably identifying suspicious BCLC retailer and (corporation) retailer employee activity," she wrote.
Ms. Carter said she found 21 corporation retailers and their employees who were multiple winners over seven years. She pointed to one anonymous retailer who earned a total of $300,000 in 11 wins over five years, and another who claimed $10,000 every year for four years.
The lottery corporation, said Ms. Carter, has done little to study the rate of retailer wins.
Even when the corporation investigated wins, Ms. Carter questioned the thoroughness of the review.
"One BCLC retailer who won a prize in excess of $500,000 was paid out after an answer to these security questions was recorded in the file as: 'About two weeks ago - not sure. This was actually a free ticket. May have got it somewhere else."
As the chairman and the president of the corporation sat glumly beside him, Mr. Les said about the report, "To say I am disappointed would be an understatement."
Mr. Les announced an audit of the retail lottery system to figure out how the system was left vulnerable to potential fraud.
Ms. Carter, who described herself as an occasional "very cautious" lottery player, said she was hopeful of real change but said it was crucial for there to be a "continued focus" on the issue by politicians, the public and media.
Ian Bailey