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No missing money or privacy breaches at APH, forensic audit finds

No one mentioned Shaun Rothberg at Wednesday night's meeting of the Algoma Public Health board. At least, not during the 90-minute session that was open to the public.

No one mentioned Shaun Rothberg at Wednesday night's meeting of the Algoma Public Health board.

At least, not during the 90-minute session that was open to the public.

But the past three months of hell were undoubtedly front-of-mind at last night's subsequent three-hour closed meeting.

The hell that broke loose after the discovery that Shaun Rothberg, APH's interim chief financial officer, was actually a man who had been convicted of fraud, Shaun Rootenberg.

The hell that followed the province's decision to subject APH to a forensic audit and a governance review.

The hell that followed the sudden departure of Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kim Barker.

When the prolonged closed-door session finally concluded around 10:30 p.m., the handful of APH staffers who regularly attend board of health meetings was long gone.

There were three items of business during the closed meeting.

One of them involved presentation of the board's own, internal forensic audit by representatives of KPMG.

Then, the board switched back to a public meeting.

SooToday, the sole representative of the public still around, was invited into the room.

What followed was carefully scripted.

First, APH Chair Marchy Bruni read a resolution committing to open governance and to communicating results of the KPMG audit.

Then, as the meeting concluded, a public statement, prepared earlier by APH communications staffer Leo Vecchio, was distributed.

The statement indicated that KPMG's forensic audit found no evidence of inappropriate spending or personal benefit to specified individuals.

It also stated that the audit had found no evidence that personal or banking privacy had been breached.

The following is the full text of last night's APH announcement, followed by the pro-transparency resolution passed at the end of the meeting:

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Algoma Public Health board reassured by KPMG forensic report

The Algoma Board of Health received the final report of the KPMG forensic review at its regularly scheduled Board of Health meeting today.

The review was commissioned by the Board of Health on January 23, 2015 in response to concerns surrounding financial management and the safeguarding of employee information.

“The board was very reassured by the KPMG findings,” says Mr. Bruni, chair of Algoma Public Health. “Specifically, we understand that based on the procedures carried out within the scope of the review, there were no findings of inappropriate spending or personal benefit to a specified individual and no findings of inappropriate access to personal or banking information,” he adds.

The KPMG report is for the internal use of APH and as per the terms of engagement between KPMG and APH, its disclosure is restricted to APH.

Respecting these terms of engagement with KPMG, Algoma Public Health is committed to the principles of transparency and accountability and the board passed a motion tonight committing to communicate on this matter with the public.

"We want to make sure there is timely communication with APH staff, constituent municipalities, and local and provincial partners,” states Bruni. “We are still awaiting the results from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care audit and assessment, but in the meantime we want to communicate as much as we can as soon as we can,” he explains.

Mr. Bruni said that the board and management of APH are committed to ensuring appropriate internal controls and financial oversight and are engaged in ongoing process reviews.

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Resolution
 
Whereas on January 23, 2015 the Algoma Board of Health engaged KPMG to provide forensic investigation services, and
 
Whereas on January 26, 2015, the Algoma Board of Health was informed by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care that they would be conducting an audit of the board pursuant to Article 8.3 of the Public Health Funding and Accountability Agreement and an assessment of the board under Section 82 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and
 
Whereas the Algoma Board of Health, during its closed-session meeting of April 15, 2015 received a presentation from KPMG on the findings of the forensic investigation, and the board is still awaiting the findings of the MOHLTC audit and assessment, and
 
Whereas the Algoma Board of Health is commited to the principles of transparency and accountability, 
 
Therefore be it resolved that the Board of Health communicate on this matter with the public in sharing timely communication with the staff of APH, constituent municipalities and local and provincial partners.
 
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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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