Audit of High Sheriff's Office turns up stale-dated cheques and uncollected fines

Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general says the Office of the High Sheriff is understaffed and not properly monitored, and often fails to collect money owed to the provincial treasury. 

Denise Hanrahan reviewed the office and its performance as part of her role in ensuring government departments and agencies run efficiently.

The Office of the High Sheriff, which falls under the Department of Justice and Public Safety, is responsible for providing court security and administering the payment of court-ordered fines.

Hanrahan found the department failed to oversee the sheriff's office properly. 

Specifically, Hanrahan found that audited statements for six years had not been completed, a situation she said was "potentially increasing the risk of undetected error or fraud" at the office. 

"I cannot audit what does not exist," she said. 

"While no error or fraud was detected in this performance audit, the risk remains as long as there are outstanding financial statements or internal control deficiencies."

The Department of Justice and Public Safety did not respond to CBC News questions about Hanrahan's report.

Fines went uncollected

The audit showed the Sheriff's office was understaffed and thus unable to properly collect and distribute fines.

"We did find for this division for example that they had a lot of transactions during our scope," said Hanrahan, adding between $4 million and $5 million flows through the High Sheriff's office during a year. 

The audit found about $59,700 in stale-dated cheques, with about $1,500 of that connected to uncashed cheques that were at least five years old. 

Hanrahan said some of the problems stem from a single position that was vacant for five years.

"Part of the issues that we found with respect to the gaps that existed in the application of financial control processes seem to be aligned with some issues with the elimination of a position in early 2017 that wasn't filled again until early 2022, and it resulted in the financial statements not being ready for audit," she said. 

She said the shortage of staff in the High Sheriff's office affects routine tasks, like tracking down people who owe fines or who are due court-ordered payments.

"One of the things we do note in our report is that the group may not necessarily have been aware of other ways to find individuals that they didn't have the address for," she said.

"[Staff] often connect the payment trail between a court-ordered payment from Party A to Party B, and sometimes it's difficult to find Party B. They may have moved or something like that," she said.

She said the office could take advantage of other methods used in the core provincial government to help make connections.

Hanrahan's office found several examples of antiquated practices, including staff using handwritten notes passed down by previous employees on how to complete daily financial tasks. 

Hanrahan said the department has three years to fulfil her recommendations, including improving oversight and making sure it has the right people — and enough of them — in place to administer the fines ordered by the court

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