Beancounters disgrace themselves

Jim Lahey on Trailer Park Boys would have a party thinking up excretory terms to describe this one

By Frank Touby –

A fetid storm of outrage has blown ill at the beancounters’ biggest labour union, aka the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, as their “ethics” watchdog committee farted out the clearance on charges of accounting wrongdoing of former city hall sexpot Wanda Liczyk, the somewhat potato-faced ex treasurer of the City of Toronto and later of Toronto Hydro. Mr. Lahey on Trailer Park Boys would describe it as a shit blizzard.

It’s a perfect example why professional agencies that supposedly watchdog their professions are a joke. The institute is required to enforce the “highest standards of professional judgement, technical skills, independence, ethics and integrity” on its members, including Wanda.

Wanda’s the one whom the Bellamy Inquiry into crooked dealings at city hall regarding the MFP computer leasing scandal described like this: “Ms. Liczyk walked into conflicts of interest with her eyes wide open, while hiding information from City Council.”

Liczyk confessed to sleeping with a married man, Michael Saunders, who later became a big bucks high-tech supplier to the city after she aggressively promoted his products over those of other potential suppliers.

She later developed an intimate though (she claims) not sexual relationship with dashing Dash Domi, the inexperienced computer leasing sales-hunk who netted $1 million in commission thanks to his dealings with the admiring Wanda who bared her heart if nothing else to the Dashman in long personal phone calls and meetings.

In the words of the Bellamy Inquiry about her overall conduct as a city treasury official: “Ms. Liczyk’s wrongdoing was perfectly clear when measured against the terms of her contract and the code of ethics that governed her….Wanda Liczyk, her blinders still firmly in place after mixing years of public service and private intimacy with Michael Saunders, apparently could not see that.”

Naturally the beancounters’ union is backtracking quickly in the wake of massive scandals, led in part by Liczyk’s main opponent, lawyer Doug Elliot. He and his wife in 1996 lost their North York home to a reputed pal of Mel Lastman’s when the then-North York (and now ex-Toronto) mayor was in power and lovely young Wanda was his city’s chief financial officer.

She used her discretion to deliver the house to Lonestar Realty even though the tax arrears had been handled. Elliot, who considers himself a victim of Wanda, is eager to show Canada who he feels she is.

Click on this link to read his most recent interpretations of the facts: http://www.thetorontobulletin.com/elliotpapers.doc

Makes you wonder what the beancounters do when they’re not counting what really counts.