(Photo illustration by Ryan Bromsgrove/The Gateway)

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EDMONTON (CUP) — A student embezzled more than $27,000 from a faculty association at the University of Alberta, according to a statement released Jan. 23 to faculty of business students.

In their statement, the Business Students’ Association (BSA) revealed that $27,745 was stolen from a BSA bank account over the course of the summer, a fact which the association became aware of in August 2011.

When asked, the BSA said they could not comment on the investigation or the identity of the student, but BSA president Kimberley Menard said that the association is working with the Students’ Union (SU) to ensure that this does not happen to any other clubs in the future.

“Our internal controls are pretty tight already,” Menard said. “We’re just making sure that if an error is made in the future, we’re able to catch it sooner.”

The BSA statement said the student in question acted alone, although all transactions are supposed to require two authorized signatures. Menard was unable to elaborate on how the student was able to act on their own, although their statement indicated it was due to a bank error.

Students’ Union vice-president academic Emerson Csorba confirmed that the SU and the BSA have been working together with the Office of the Dean of Students to investigate the issue.

“We’ve been doing a lot of investigating over the last few months, just in terms of looking at the financial procedures of the BSA,” Csorba said.

“The BSA has been handling this well over the last few months, and we’ve been working with the dean of students to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, and at the same time that something like this can’t happen to other faculty organizations.”

According to Csorba, the SU learned about the embezzlement in early December.

“I wouldn’t say that the BSA kept this to themselves,” Csorba said. “When something like this happens, it can be a bit startling just because of the magnitude. But we’ve had a pretty good relationship in terms of working with them — I’d say that [our] relationship is characterized by trust.”

Csorba added that the issue has remained confidential until recently because the student had launched an appeal regarding a Code of Student Behaviour charge.

Although she couldn’t comment on the specifics of the case, Deborah Eerkes, the university’s discipline officer, clarified that in cases of theft or embezzlement, an appeal could be launched once it’s determined that the student violated the Code of Student Behaviour. The appeal board would read over the case and come to a final and binding decision.

“There would be all kinds of things to take into account, like how much was stolen, whether the student was already involved in paying it back,” Eerkes said.

“The range of sanctions [begins with] restitution, but also [includes] things like a conduct probation, or various levels of suspension. Expulsion would be the worst that could happen.”

Elaine Geddes, associate dean for the school of business’ undergraduate program, stressed that the individuals involved in the investigation are obligated not to provide any information about the student in question.

“People are criticizing the BSA for not identifying this person,” Geddes said, adding that under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Code of Student Behaviour, and other university regulations, the BSA is not permitted to do so.

In their official statement, the BSA wrote that the embezzlement was made possible because of a bank error in setting up ATM privileges when the signing authorities were changed for the 2011–12 year.

“The bank changed provisions on the BSA student account, which was done without the knowledge of the rest of the students,” Geddes explained. “We believe the bank is at fault. Whether or not we’re able to do anything about that is an open question at this stage.”

Geddes added that the BSA has rules in place that should have prevented this from happening.

“What they need to do [now] is provide some way of catching mistakes of this kind before they turn into what this turned into,” Geddes said. “But it should never have happened in the first place, considering the safeguards they already had.”

More than half the stolen money was recovered, but Geddes could not provide a precise amount.

“I have been involved in this from day one, and these students [in the BSA] have done their best to try to properly safeguard the financial resources of students in the school of business,” Geddes said.

“It’s unfair what they’re being required to go through now, because they have been victims of a crime, and they’re being re-victimized all over again.”

University of Alberta Protective Services director Bill Mowbray confirmed that the student implicated in the embezzlement was charged under the Code of Student Behaviour, and added that the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) still has a file open for this case.

The EPS officer in charge of reviewing the case was not available for comment as of press time.

Update published by The Gateway on Feb. 1: A University of Alberta student who stole almost $28,000 from the Business Students’ Association (BSA) is being charged with theft by the Edmonton Police Service (EPS).

The student, who is also being charged under the university’s Code of Student Behaviour, is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 29. EPS spokesman Chad Orydzuk confirmed that police laid charges yesterday of theft over $5,000 against the 21-year-old male.

The identity of the student in question is being kept confidential until his court hearing.

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