Committee looks at how they missed officials’ lavish spending

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — In light of allegations of top officials abusing their expenses,  LAMC – the all party committee that signs off on the budget for the business of the legislature – is looking at how they missed it.

NDP MLA Garry Begg who’s been a member of LAMC since the government changed hands says the committee generally dealt with approvals in the hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars.

RELATED: ‘It’s time to clean that up’: John Horgan following accusations of officials’ lavish spending

“My experience at LAMC has been that we deal mainly with large ticket items  we don’t generally at least in my experience deal with expense accounts or the billing of more minor matters,” he says.

But those minor matters – where other officials signed off – are alleged to total millions of misspent public dollars according to the Speaker’s bombshell report.

He says the committee will soon lay out the audit’s scope and choose and auditor.

“Our expectation is that once we commission the forensic audit that it would take months rather than years,” he says.

WATCH: Speaker Plecas speaks of legislature spending scandal

This week’s report from the Speaker is focused on abuse of public funds over the last 18 months, but Begg thinks it goes back farther.

“There are certainly indications that there have been prior by way of the speakers office and others that changes needed to be made,” he says.

Beggs says audits into the offices of two suspended officers should be complete in months not years.

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