Auditor general's office fires 2 staff members for earning money from government contracts

The auditor general's office has fired two of its employees after learning they were earning money from Government of Canada contracts on the side.

«The employees did not disclose this information to their managers. None of the employees involved were auditors,» said a statement from the Office of the Auditor General (OAG).

«In two cases, an investigation was conducted, and the employees no longer work for the OAG.»

The OAG confirmed that a third employee is also being investigated in relation to outside work.

As first reported by the National Post, the investigations led the OAG to revoke the employees' security clearances and then terminate their employment.

Both cases were first referred to the RCMP in early January 2024. On the advice of the Mounties, the OAG referred them to the Ottawa Police Service the following month.

The OAG said it will not comment further on the case of the third employee because it remains under investigation.

The OAG said the now-former employees did not have any outside contracts with the OAG and that it will not be disclosing the names of the companies with which they were involved.

The OAG said it will be rolling out additional ethics training for employees in the coming months and will ensure that, going forward, additional controls are «implemented to verify outside employment or contracts.»

The OAG's code of conduct

According to the OAG's code of conduct, employees of the agency are allowed to engage in work outside the office providing that work does not undermine the neutrality of the OAG or violate the agency's conflict of interest rules.

Those rules say employees who are concerned that their relationships or connections with «existing or potential contractors» with the agency could «result in