Auditor General Karen Hogan reported Dec. 6 that $27.4 billion of Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments are suspicious and should be investigated. She said at least $4.6 billion was paid to ineligible individuals.
The auditor’s report said Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has limited time to recover most of the money. “Unless the department or agency suspect that a recipient misrepresented information, the time frame to verify whether a recipient is eligible for the payment is 36 months for most COVID‑19 benefit programs,” it said.
CRA and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) are working together on auditing CERB payments.
“I am concerned about the lack of rigour on post-payment verifications and collection activities,” Hogan said. She said CRA had limited its activity so far to processing voluntary repayments, which have recovered about $2.3 billion….