Former Gilbert Plains CAO has wages garnished to pay back $500K

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This article was published 24/10/2024 (378 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba court has ordered the wages of a municipality’s former chief administrative officer be garnished after she was sued for allegedly stealing more than $500,000, then making up a cyberattack to conceal the theft.

The Municipality of Gilbert Plains filed a lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench against former CAO Amber Fisher in August last year.

A report by accounting firm MNP, completed in late 2022, found Fisher had transferred about $532,000 from the municipality to her bank account while she was the highest-ranking bureaucrat, the 2023 claim said.

She was fired after the report was completed. She began working at the RM in 2018, before her promotion to the top role in 2020.

The court issued a notice of garnishment for $548,758.03 to Fisher and her current employer, ordering the seizure of her wages, in late September. The garnishment is for around $515,000, plus interest and costs.

The garnishment order came after the court issued a default judgment against Fisher in November last year, as she failed to mount a defence to the lawsuit. The judgment ordered her to pay $525,000, with annual interest of five per cent.

Fisher repaid the municipality about $17,000, but has yet to pay any more, the court file indicates.

Fisher has not been criminally charged but the alleged thefts were reported to RCMP, who continue to investigate.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca