A former executive assistant to Tracy Kitch testified in court on Friday that she repeatedly raised concerns about personal expenses billed at the IWK health center and was ultimately told not to express those concerns in emails .
Alison Lucio was in the witness box for a second day in the trial of Kitch, the former CEO of Halifax Children’s Hospital. Kitch is charged with breach of trust and fraud over $ 5,000.
Lucio testified that as more personal charges appeared on Kitch’s monthly corporate credit card statements, she brought her concerns to the hospital’s in-house legal counsel. , Jen Feron.
Although she felt the matter would be settled, Lucio testified that personal accusations continued to flow. When Lucio continued to voice her concerns, she testified that Feron told her not to do so by email.
“I expressed my concerns very clearly for months and said that nothing had been done to my knowledge,” she said.
Eventually, Feron told her that she needed to track Kitch’s personal expenses so they could be reimbursed, Lucio said. But even when the bills were identified as being of a personal nature, Lucio said Kitch was not always quick to reimburse them.
Hotel stay unpaid for months
She detailed a case where a four-night hotel stay in Halifax was booked for Kitch’s mother through the IWK. The bill was eventually sent to the hospital and Lucio gave it to Kitch to reimburse. Lucio said the charge had not been paid for months until the hotel finally seemed to be fed up.
“We kept getting calls for this bill and I reminded Tracy that this bill needed to be paid. [the hotel] threatened to go to the collections for it, ”Lucio told the court.
Lucio testified that when she raised the issue with Feron, she was told to “just pay him”. So she filled out an order form for the hotel bill of just under $ 600.
Crown Attorney Peter Dostal spent most of the day with Lucio reviewing the flights Kitch took during his tenure as CEO, as well as the taxi expenses associated with those trips and determining whether the dates matched any dates. hospital-related activities in its work schedule. In most cases, they haven’t.
Only 6 of 25 work-related thefts
Dostal noted that of the 25 flights Kitch took as part of a three-month unlimited flight pass, only six trips appeared to be related to work-related matters. Lucio said the hospital increased to 10 flight packs after that because it was deemed more profitable based on the number of business trips in Kitch’s schedule.
Lucio testified after the hospital began receiving questions from the media about Kitch’s trip, Kitch and Feron asked him to prepare an invoice showing that Kitch had reimbursed personal expenses. While she was willing to make a detailed list of personal expenses, Lucio testified that she did not prepare an invoice because she had been asked to backdate it.
Kitch resigned her post at the hospital following an audit ordered by the IWK board of directors that showed she had spent around $ 47,000 in personal costs for the hospital. Kitch eventually refunded the money in full.
The trial is due to resume Monday with the testimony of Lucio.
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