Ryan Nelson says the CUPE local in Moose Jaw uncovered financial irregularities with a former union executive member. CBC

Lax financial controls may be one of the reasons behind an alleged fraud at a Moose Jaw local of CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

The union represents city workers in Moose Jaw and recently won a lawsuit against Diana Bethke, a former secretary-treasurer for the union.

The lawsuit, which went unchallenged, claimed Bethke wrote cheques to herself from union funds, over the course of several years, adding up to $240,000.

New union executives uncovered what was happening and began the legal action.

They also changed procedures for handling accounts.

"The bylaws for the union were grossly out of date," Ryan Nelson, president of the local, told CBC News Thursday. "They hadn't been changed since 1980."

Nelson said he was not a member of the executive during the time the cheques were written and the new executive moved quickly to make changes.

"One of the first things we did as a local and as an executive is we rewrote the bylaws to ensure that there were proper checks and balances and that something like this could not happen again," he said.

Nelson said the lawsuit was based on an investigation by the union, into their own financial records.

"Our internal investigation went back as far as we could get bank records for, which is about six or seven years," he said. "Within that period of time there, that is where our internal investigation found out that approximately $240,000 was missing."

Earlier this week, police in Moose Jaw announced that they had laid a fraud charge relating to a loss of money from the CUPE local.

Moose Jaw Police said in a release that the City of Moose Jaw employee was charged with one count of fraud over $5,000.

Police said the charge was laid after a lengthy investigation into more than $200,000 being taken from the union.

In addition to city hall workers, the CUPE local represents employees workers at the Palliser Regional Library, the Moose Jaw Art Gallery, and clerical workers with the Moose Jaw Police Service.