When the Canadian Olympic Association has its annual audit in a couple of months, it will ask its eternal auditing firm KPMG to check for any misuse of funding.
There have been rumours circulating recently since Michael Murnaghan, the common-law husband of the Canadian Olympic Association’s late CEO Carol Anne Letheren, was expelled by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario for taking $750,000 (U.S.) of a client’s money without authorization.
Several COA members as well as Canadian IOC member Paul Henderson have called for an investigation of the COA’s spending practices in an effort to identify any alleged misuse of funds and to make sure that money being spent by the organization is being spent properly.
Doug Hamilton, a COA director, said that the air needs to be cleared, even if he has no evidence of financial improprieties. “I don’t have any evidence of any misuse whatsoever but the fact that there have been rumours and innuendo to me is enough (to launch an investigation). If it does, get rid of it”.
For example, Hamilton said expensive jaunts to exotic locales for meetings should be cut out.
Henderson suggested that a panel of high-profile ex-Olympians with financial expertise head an investigation into the COA’s books – at no cost to the COA. Thus not diverting much-needed funds from other COA projects. However, there are those who believe that allowing anyone involved with the Olympic movement, either past or present, would be a mistake and only exacerbate the COA’s credibility problems”.
