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(DARREN RATHWELL / iNFOnews.ca)

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District expected a forensic audit into its finances to be completed and brought to the board in September, but it's fallen behind schedule.

"Probably not until October at the rate things are going," board chair Ken Gillis said when asked if the public can expect to see the final report presented at a Sept. 23 board meeting.

A BDO Canada LLP representative told the regional district board in July that the investigation was on track to conclude in mid-August and the final report would be presented to the board in September.

"Of course, you wish these things would be over as quickly as possible," Gillis said. "But I'm equally determined that it should be a very thorough forensic audit, so if it takes longer, so be it."

BDO Canada was contracted to carry out an investigation into regional district spending within a five-year scope, which they began in early May.

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The forensic audit involves investigating not just expense reports and ledgers, but also communications to find clues that may lead to where fraud may have occurred.

At a July 15 board meeting, it became clear that the investigation included a substantial amount of work when Simon Padgett, director of forensic disputes and investigations for BDO Canada, updated the regional district.

"The nature of it is that the more we dig, the more we look at. The more we see, the more questions we have," Padgett said at the board meeting. "We're also defining possible further and future work. The more we look the more we find, we've got tangents going off in every direction. This is normal."

Regional district corporate officer Deanna Campbell said that is what has caused the delay.

"It's hard to know at the outset to how many documents they're investigation," she said. "As they've been going along, they've found more they want to explore."

She added that BDO Canada will provide a brief update to the board on Sept. 23 to explain the delay and provide a renewed estimated day that the final report will be delivered.

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The forensic investigation stemmed from a year-long investigation by a Kamloops This Week reporter that followed former chief administrative officer Sukh Gill's mysterious departure in 2020. The investigation uncovered $500,000 of taxpayer spending for discretionary dinners and gifts for staff.

Following publication, RCMP launched a fraud investigation and the regional district began reviewing internal spending policies.

Contracting BDO Canada to conduct a forensic audit was a board decision, for which the regional district unanimously approved in March up to $75,000 to conduct the investigation.

"There's no one more anxious to see the results of this than your board of directors," Gillis said. "We don't want something that's thrown together hastily."

BDO Canada does not comment on ongoing investigations.

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