Fraud charges have been laid against a former City of Surrey employee accused of defrauding city hall of $2.5 million.
Sunny Catlin, 40, is charged with four crimes that include committing fraud or breach of trust by issuing and depositing cheques from the City of Surrey without authority and for her own benefit; defrauding the City of Surrey of money of a value in excess of $5,000; committing theft of money, the property of the City of Surrey, of a value in excess of $5,000; and committing forgery by knowingly making false documents, City of Surrey deposit release authorization packages, with intent that they be used or acted upon by the City of Surrey as if they were genuine.
The BC Prosecution Service approved the charges on November 18. Catlin’s first court appearance is set for Dec. 2.
“Investigators have concluded their investigation and are working closely with the BC Prosecution Service to complete the disclosure process,” Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the Surrey Police Service, said.
The Surrey RCMP Economic Crimes Unit began an investigation in early 2024 after the City of Surrey reported a “significant fraud” related to “financial irregularities.”
“Investigators alleged that a municipal employee accessed the financial systems and created a series of fraudulent files in connection with their official duties over an extended period of time,” Houghton explained. “The alleged fraud is believed to have resulted in an estimated loss of $2.5 million to the City of Surrey.”
The City of Surrey issued a press release November 26 on Mayor Brenda Locke’s behalf.
“While I am unable to comment on the investigation as the matter is before the courts, I do want to thank the Surrey RCMP Economic Crimes Unit and all investigators involved for working to ensure accountability in this case. The City of Surrey remains committed to transparency and integrity in all its operations,” Locke stated.
It came to light in May that the City of Surrey is trying to recover $2.5 million plus costs and interest after filing a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against a former city hall employee. City Manager Rob Costanzo said at the time the civil claim was filed in 2024 after “irregular transactions” were discovered dating back to 2017 that involved dormant development-deposit accounts. Nothing has yet been proved or disproved in court.
In a separate and unrelated case, in September, a Law Society of Ontario document revealed that “at some time in 2019, the City of Surrey (British Columbia) was defrauded of $2.1 million.
“Using a fake email, the fraudsters tricked the city into routing the money to the wrong account. The money ended up in an escrow account operated by an Ontario paralegal. The fraudsters then tried to launder the money,” the document read concerning a professional misconduct finding against a lawyer – Ganesh Balaganthan, a former 14-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service – who was alleged “to have knowingly assisted in a money-laundering scheme involving over $1.7 million.
“He was found to have engaged in professional misconduct by being wilfully blind to a fraudulent transaction; failing to make reasonable efforts to ascertain the purposes of his retainer or information about his client; and using his trust account for purposes other than providing legal services ‒ A penalty hearing is to be scheduled.”
In September Surrey city councillor and mayoral candidate Linda Annis said news the City of Surrey is subject to not one but two fraud cases involving involving millions of dollars reinforces her longstanding call for Surrey to have its own auditor general.
“It gives I think assurance to the residents that we’re managing their tax dollars safely and efficiently and these two cases, you know, this can’t continue to happen,” she said at the time.
“Most big cities, in fact I think all big cities in Canada have an auditor general but Surrey does not.”