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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, D ec em be r 19 ,2 01 9 | 6 Best Travel Agency Suite 300, South Oakville Centre • 1515 Rebecca Street, Oakville 905.827.1100 travel@mctavish.comwww.mctavishtravel.com CORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURE O nt Re g N o 14 37 98 5 471972-41972-41972- 201920192019 CORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORACORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORACORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURETE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURETE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURETE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURETE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORACORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURETE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORACORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORACORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURETE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURECORPORACORPORATE • GROUP • LEISURE ~ Wishing you and yours joy, love & peace throughout the season ~ e.y servicedit to spend on ancr t $50 opened clinic in Oakville and ge wly at our ne) therse it with oou can also shary( e of it d* or bring a picturt this caresenPr elp!e Can HW ?ainTired of P our needs. or all ye to cater fed cart up a holistic model of personalize se'vey ws whThat' ellbeing. our health and wving yoe passionate about impre art. Wemenvtimal moop eedom of y the frour health and enjoe yvoou impromises to help ye Sports Clinic prcA 50$ eCashcAode: our gift cY SHCE CAA e etplac Olde Oakville MarkL6J 7Z5,oad, suite 202, ON, all Rworn271 C om esportsclinic.c.ac wwwCE),-A1-833-266-5223 (1-833-BOOK alue. or cash vchanged fxt be sold or et. Canno, One use per clients onlyw clienetil January 31st, 2020. Nalid un*V dozens of occasions where Ohashi allegedly accepted money, flights, vacations, hotel rooms, tickets, electronics, home renovations, "adult entertainment" and even Viagra. The shocking details in the re- port raise serious questions about Halton Region's oversight of con- tracts, invoices and payments, as well as its oversight of the beha- viour of some companies that pro- vide services and equipment to the region in the water and wastewa- ter division. Two of the companies identi- fied in the report alleged to havefied in the report alleged to havef provided kickbacks to Ohashi are still on Halton Region's most re- cently published list of approved suppliers of equipment and servic- es for the water and wastewater di- vision. In written responses to The Spectator's questions, Halton Re- gion stated it "is committed to the highest standards of corporate ac- countability, transparency, re- sponsibility and integrity." "These are the actions of indi- viduals in positions of trust who chose to use the knowledge of the controls and systems to defraud Halton residents and Halton Re- gion," stated Stacey Hunter, spokesperson for the region. "Their actions in no way re- present the 2,500 skilled, hard- working and dedicated individu- als who serve Halton residents each and every day." "Halton Region has rigorous systems, policies and procedures in place to safeguard assets and protect the public interest," Hunt- er stated. "Even the most con- trolled system cannot prevent il- licit activity, particularly when in- ternal and external collusion is in- volved." In 2016, Ohashi was charged with seven counts including mu- nicipal corruption, accepting se- cret commissions, fraud and crim- inal breach of contract. While some of the details of Ohashi's actions became public when he was charged, the forensic accountants' report provides a comprehensive analysis of the scope of the allegedly fraudulent behaviour which appears to have gone on for more than a decade. Ohashi was found guilty by a jury on June 21 of fraud over $5,000, fraud under $5,000, and ut- tering a forged document. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28. Also facing charges with Ohashi was Stoney Creek resident David Norris, principal of Sirron Systems Inc., a company that was a vendor and service provider to Halton Region. Norris was charged with five counts and convicted by a jury on June 21 of fraud over $5,000, mu- nicipal corruption, and accepting secret commissions. He will also be sentenced on Feb. 28. Ohashi and Norris attempted to have their convictions stayed ear- lier this fall by launching a chal- lenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that argued their rights were violated by the Crown, but they abandoned their applica- tion on Nov. 28. Attempts to reach Ohashi and Norris for comment were unsuc- cessful. Following Ohashi's arrest in 2016, Halton police investigated and charged another region em- ployee, Nicolas Rewa, who was subsequently found guilty of de- frauding the region of aboutfrauding the region of aboutf $770,000 through falsely awarding service contracts to Sirron Sys- tems Inc. Rewa was sentenced to three years in jail. The forensic accounting firm prepared the investigative report based on emails, phone call logs, texts, BlackBerry Messenger mes- sages, a computer hard drive anal- ysis, and reviews of Halton Region invoices and contracts. The investigators also received documents from the ex-spouse of Norris, who also happened to be a former bookkeeper of Sirron Sys-former bookkeeper of Sirron Sys-f tems, one of the companies impli- cated in the scheme. Sirron Systems performed elec- trical, instrumentation and data acquisition services for Halton Re- gion from 1995 to 2017. According to the confidential report, Sirron Systems issued nearly 16,000 invoices totalling $30.5 million to Halton over the 22- year period. When the forensic accountants interviewed Norris' ex-spouse, she told them Sirron began submitting fictitious invoices to Halton Re-fictitious invoices to Halton Re-f gion around 2003. She told them she was terminated in February 2014 "as a result of her reluctance to participate in Sirron's 'questionable billing practices,'" the report states. The forensic accountants com- pared Sirron bookkeeping spread- sheets with Halton Region invoic- es and calculated that Sirron's al- legedly fictitious invoices to Hal- ton totalled between $12.3 million to $13.9 million. At least 38 of the allegedly ficti- tious invoices totalling $490,000 were directly attributable to Ohashi, the report states. LOCAL Continued from page 3 OHASHI WAS CHARGED WITH SEVEN COUNTS IN 2016 See page 7