SaskTel has fired five employees for allegedly setting up a scheme that cost the phone company an estimated $85,000 — and fired another employee for allegedly forging $20,500 worth of cheques.
The information was disclosed Monday in the province's quarterly report on government losses.
Earlier this fall, SaskTel announced it had suspended five employees over conflict of interest concerns, but didn't provide any details.
The Crown corporation now says the employees have been fired and the matter has been turned over to the police.
According to SaskTel spokeswoman Darcee MacFarlane, three of the employees contracted SaskTel work to a company they had set up. The work wasn't tendered.
"We've determined that they were overcharging SaskTel for that work completed," MacFarlane said.
"The other two employees were involved in the conflict of interest as they were actually the labour. They were performing the labour for this company. So all five have actually been terminated."
In addition to the $85,000 loss involving the employees' company, three of the SaskTel employees purchased or received goods for their personal use at SaskTel's expense, adding $8,810 to the losses.
The goods included "golf clubs, ski suits and bikes," MacFarlane said.
The losses took place in 2008 and 2009, the company said.
Meanwhile, there was a separate incident at Direct West, the company's phone book subsidiary, which resulted in a loss of $20,500.
Between December 2006 and May, 2009, a DirectWest employee forged cheques payable to himself, the government said.
"Basically he was in [the] finance department and he had access to the cheques," McFarlane said. "We require two signatures and we understand he forged both of those."
The company now keeps blank cheques locked up in a vice-president's office.
SaskTel said it has also implemented new procedures to detect missing cheques.
As with the previous incident, the DirectWest matter is being reported to police, SaskTel said. The employee has been fired.
SaskTel didn't name any of the employees involved.
