Halifax Auditor Calling Cops?

The auditor general of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is considering getting the cops involved in a cash-for-concerts scandal that spurred the resignation of the city’s chief administrative officer earlier this year.

Auditor General Larry Munroe recently released a 96-page report that explained how “groupthink” and the city’s “overwhelming desire” to host concerts led to a series of bad decisions by officials.

But the report was apparently just the tip of the iceberg for Munroe. He told the local Chronicle Herald he has a “real concern” with a series of secret cash advances that took place and noted his office has consulted a lawyer to advise if the concert flap is a matter for criminal investigation.

The AG’s office spent months reviewing documents related to a series of concerts that took place on the city’s Commons in recent years. Munroe said he’s trying to understand how “commingling” money from two accounts created confusion over whether advances on ticket sales to promoter Harold MacKay’s Power Promotional Events needed prior approval from city councilors.

“There was a ticketing process there [but] I’m not initially receiving a lot of paperwork on it,” Munroe told the Herald. “So I just want to understand what took place [and] why there doesn’t seem to be a lot of paperwork around it.”

Power Promotional Events was forwarded a $400,000 advance last July by then-CAO Wayne Anstey prior to a Black Eyed Peas concert on the Commons. After the show suffered weak ticket sales, MacKay couldn’t settle up and the city was left on the hook for $359,550. PPE went out of business last fall.

Munroe’s report also raised issues with Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly’s involvement in the scandal. Kelly “had access to information and the opportunity to raise concerns through a variety of policies and business practices,” the audit says, and “should have known something out of the ordinary was occurring.”