Tips from informants have led to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recovering over $26 million in penalties and incorrect payments under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), the government’s costliest pandemic relief program,
“All leads provided to the Agency are reviewed for potential non-compliance and action is taken if warranted.”
The inquiry had asked for the number of complaints the CRA received concerning “recipients misusing the subsidy,” and of the complaints, how many the agency investigated and eventually issued fines for.
Of the 1,986 leads gathered, 495 resulted in audits. About a third of the audits (132) identified $14.5 million in false payments while “$11.6 million in penalties have been applied”—totalling $26.1 million. The remaining audits are still ongoing, according to the Inquiry.
‘Ineligible Claims’
Fewer than one percent (3,450) of the applications were rejected, though subsequent investigations showed subsidies were paid to insolvent companies, tax delinquents, and subsidiaries of foreign corporations like the Bank of China, according to Blacklock’s.“It’s too early in the compliance cycle of this program to provide concrete numbers on total ineligible claims with a degree of certainty,” he said.
Auditor General Karen Hogan, who also testified at the meeting, estimated that $15.5 billion was paid out to those who might not have been eligible to receive CEWS.
“We concluded that all of those payments should be investigated further,” she said.
When asked by Chambers during the hearing if he agreed with Hogan’s estimate, Hamilton disagreed.
“No, we think that is an overestimate,” he replied.