Originally posted March 4, 2016 at 4:43pm
Update: This story has been updated to include an interview with Obaid Ullah, current Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) vice-president and presidential candidate in the upcoming union election.
Two current Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) executives allege that more than $90,000 was stolen from the union’s coffers last year under a government that one executive said was lacking lacked oversight and, transparency and failed to act on auditor’s suggestions.
In a Medium post on Monday, RSU president Andrea Bartlett alleged that more than $90,000 was stolen from the union in 2014-15 year.
She said that more than $50,000 was stolen from the office safe and more than $40,000 was taken from credit cards.
Toronto police media relations officer David Hopkinson said that a member of the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) should immediately file a report with them about the alleged thefts.
In a Medium post on Monday, RSU president Andrea Bartlett alleged that more than $90,000 was stolen from the union in 2014-15 year.
She said that more than $50,000 was stolen from the office safe and more than $40,000 was taken from credit cards.
“A member of the union should make a report,” said David Hopkinson, a media relations officer with the Toronto Police Service.
“Fraud and theft, especially given these quantities, is something police would investigate…these incidents should be reported to us so we may begin an investigation,” he said.
Bartlett said that she and her team conducted a financial investigation of the missing funds last summer, but the findings were “inconclusive.”
“The money stolen was from previous years, so too much time has passed to take any action on it,” she said Tuesday.
Obaid Ullah, current vice-president of operations and presidential candidate for the upcoming RSU election, was part of the team that worked on the investigation.
In an emailed response on Friday night, Ullah said that they his government had found out about the thefts well into their term when the General Manager, Natasha Campagna began to look into their finances.
“Nobody has been able to verify if the members on the Executive or staff went to the police at the time, but we did notify Ryerson security,” said Ullah.
Campus security has yet to respond to interview requests from The Ryersonian.
Ullah said that when he was elected into office, the policies and practices of the union were lacking oversight and safeguards. surrounding.
“The reality of the frustration that we experienced when we came into office,” he said, was that there was “absolutely no HR or management,” minimal public documents, records that were deleted, and no workplace policies.
On top of that, the incoming team was dealing with over(more than) $100,000 worth of debt racked up from a lawsuit for which there was no budget or oversight.
Alexandra Heck is a fourth year Ryerson student. She is a freelance writer for the Orangeville Banner, previously an intern at the National Post. Alex currently lives in Shelburne, Ont.