Thoughts on the alleged COU fraud

I spent many hours today working on the story of how the Council of Ontario Universities was defrauded of over $600,000 by one employees.

The COU is not releasing any details at this point, which I found frustrating. However, I understand they not releasing details based on the advice of their auditor. (A good reason)
Hopefully, when the final audit is available, they will release details and explain what went wrong.

Fraud happens. The fraud is problematic but what’s truly embarrassing for the COU is that the alleged perpetrator of the fraud had a senior level position in the organization despite having falsified her credentials.

If the COU had exercised due diligence when hired the alleged perpetrator, the opportunity to commit the crime would have never existed.

The COU should release its audit and allow the public (who indirectly foot the COU’s bills) to learn exactly what happened. This incident is nothing short of embarrassing. The COU was duped. I know I’ve been duped.

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The key is getting the egg off your face. The longer you cover your face hiding instead of coming clean, the longer the egg is on your face.

This all said, the incident is now in the past. COU is aggressively reforming itself and I’m fully confident this will never happen again.