Taxes skimmed?

Amazing!! Great integrity from the Tax collectors -at least they caught it -PR
winnipegsun.com - Winnipeg News - Taxes skimmed?: " Sun, January 28, 2007

Taxes skimmed?Winnipeg employee faces fraud charges
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU

Canada Revenue Agency's Winnipeg Tax Centre. Documents reveal an employee was able to pocket fraudulent refunds. (JON SCHLEDEWITZ, SUN)
OTTAWA -- A Canada Revenue Agency employee is accused of bilking taxpayers of more than $100,000, Sun Media has learned.
Documents obtained under Access to Information refer to a 'sensitive file' involving the 'fraudulent reassessment of client tax returns' by an employee at the Winnipeg Tax Centre.
According to one 2005 memorandum to then-CRA Commissioner Michel Dorais, adjustments of 18 client accounts resulted in $131,871 in fraudulent refunds being deposited into the employee's bank account.
Another document shows affected individuals were to be advised their records were corrected and that an investigation was underway.
'They will be advised that they may be contacted by a CRA investigator, and will be asked to monitor their tax records and contact CRA if they notice anything that appears unusual,' it reads.

The documents were requested by Sun Media last fall after the federal government's Public Accounts listed a loss of $119,399 due to 'theft of taxpayer remittance.'
The records listed $27,322 as recovered in 2005-2006, and another $92,077 that was to expected to be recovered in subsequent years.
FEW AND FAR BETWEEN
Emilia Kotris, a spokesman for the Winnipeg Tax Centre, would not provide details on the case because it is before the courts. But she stressed breaches by employees are few and far between.
"It's a very rare occurrence and in no way reflects on the integrity and professionalism of the thousands of other employees we have working with us," she said.
Kotris would not say if the employee is still employed with the CRA, but offered a general comment on potential repercussions for staff who break the rules.
"All CRA employees are subject to very strict standards of conduct and conflict of interest guidelines and any employee who violates those guidelines faces severe consequences up to and including dismissal and prosecution," she said.
The federal government documents state that CRA planned to "fully examine" existing procedures, access profiles and mainframe systems to improve and augment existing safeguards.
Michelle Mariano faces 28 charges under the Income Tax Act and the Criminal Code, including breach of trust by a public officer, fraud over $5,000 and making false or deceptive statements, for alleged offences between 2002-2005.
The next court date is scheduled for March 19.