Court garnishees wages of former CAO accused of stealing $500K in phoney cyberattack on Manitoba municipality

A Manitoba court has ordered the seizure of a former Gilbert Plains chief administrative officer's wages after the western Manitoba municipality filed a lawsuit accusing her of stealing over a half a million dollars, then faking a cyberattack to cover her tracks.

A notice of garnishment for nearly $550,000 was issued to former Gilbert Plains CAO Amber Fisher and her employer on Sept. 27 by a Manitoba Court of King's Bench deputy registrar, court documents show.

The seizure of Fisher's wages comes after a default judgment was made against her when she didn't file any defence in the civil lawsuit launched by the municipality of Gilbert Plains.

A forensic accounting and financial investigation report by MNP that was completed in November 2022 said Fisher had transferred around $532,000 of the municipality's money to her bank account while she was CAO, says the lawsuit filed against Fisher by Gilbert Plains in 2023.

Fisher, who began to work for Gilbert Plains in 2018 as a senior administrative officer and was promoted to chief administrative officer in April 2020, was fired following the report's completion, the lawsuit said.

She repaid the municipality about $17,000, the lawsuit says. The garnishment sum ordered last month is for about $515,000, plus interest and legal costs.

Fisher was served with the Gilbert Plains lawsuit shortly after it was filed, but didn't submit a statement of defence, leading a deputy registrar to order the default judgment in the municipality's favour in November 2023.

While the civil suit found in the municipality's favour, Gilbert Plains Reeve Jim Manchur said the municipality is still waiting to hear the results of a Manitoba RCMP investigation into the missing funds.

"I think most people are anxious to see the results of the investigation become public, and hopefully soon that'll happen," Manchur told CBC News on Tuesday.

The default judgment ordered Fisher to pay $525,000, with an annual interest rate of five per cent.

However, recent court documents show Fisher hadn't made any more payments to the municipality as of Sept. 27.

Fisher also failed to attend a June 2024 court date to provide documents related to her finances, property and why she had failed to pay any money. She was served with a notice to attend, which said she risked being charged with contempt of court if she didn't show up.

Gilbert Plains, which is about 275 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, has received $400,000 through an insurance claim, and they're hoping to recover more money through garnisheeing Fisher's wages, Manchur said.

"I couldn't even speculate how much we can get in the near future, but it may take some time."

Fisher did not respond to CBC's requests for comment before publication.

The municipality said in its lawsuit that Fisher had breached her contract through "criminal, fraudulent, and unlawful conduct," alleging she made 33 transfers, totalling about $515,000, from the municipality's bank account to her own from September 2020 to July 2021.

Gilbert Plains also accused Fisher of falsifying bank statements to hide the transfers, giving councillors illegitimate reports that cleared her of fraud, and making up a story that she had been the victim of a cyberattack.

MNP's report also said Fisher sent herself payments for about 280 hours of overtime in April and May 2020, adding up to about $15,000 in gross earnings, the lawsuit says.

Manitoba RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel told CBC News on Monday that no charges have been filed against Fisher, but she would not confirm or deny charges would be laid in the future.

The accusations against Fisher helped prompt changes to the rules of a professional association of senior civil servants.

The Manitoba Municipal Administrators introduced a new code of conduct in April, partly in response to the claims against Fisher, but also after former Winnipeg CAO Phil Sheegl accepted a bribe of over $300,000 while in office, president Nicole Chychota said.

The new code includes a formal complaint process and outlines expectations for civil servants to ensure that they're upholding high ethical and professional standards, Chychota said.

A new professional accreditation program is also in the works.

She says incidents of theft can hurt a community's trust in their local government.

"Our changes cannot completely prevent these issues from occurring, but they will make sure that our members are more accountable to standards and ethical conduct."

Manchur said Gilbert Plains hired a new CAO and assistant CAO after Fisher was fired, and the municipality has been running smoothly.

The municipality has also put in place strong financial measures to prevent theft, he said.

"Our audits are up to date, our bank records are up to date, everything is current and so … I'm quite confident this would never happen again."