Audit finds political interference, questionable spending at Atlantic Lottery
HALIFAX — Officials running the Atlantic Lottery Corp. spent thousands of dollars on lavish dinners and Christmas parties, boosted executive salaries and handed out generous perks to politicians, according to a joint audit of the Crown corporation that said the lucrative enterprise needs greater oversight and transparency.
The report, released Wednesday by the auditors general of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, looked into management of the corporation, finding confusion in decision-making due in part to a lack of co-ordination between the board, management and the governments that own it.
The audit raised questions about corporate spending practices, pay hikes and a $73,000 expenditure on concert and event tickets for so-called stakeholder relations. In particular, it cited $14,000 the corporation spent on buying an additional 125 tickets to the Cavendish Music Festival in 2014 after it had already received 270 tickets as a sponsor to give away.
Nova Scotia’s auditor general, Michael Pickup, said most people would have trouble with that kind of expense.