City of Ottawa employee, landlord charged with fraud in bribery scheme

The City of Ottawa’s Auditor General completed an investigation and found that an employee and a landlord were involved in a bribery scheme.

The case opened in December 2024, when the auditor, Nathalie Gougeon, received a complaint that a city employee was getting kickbacks (bribes) from a group of landlords participating in the housing benefits program run by the municipality.

According to the report, the employee gained over $22,000 in payments —disguised as bonuses— from a landlord in exchange for approving above-market rental rates, some of which were more than 63 per cent over rental value.

Some of the evidence dug up by the auditor general and her office included interviews with the employee and messages between the two parties.

“This included messages where the Landlord told Employee A if they could get the Landlords ‘higher rent’, ‘the bonus will be much larger,'” the report reads.

Following this, Ottawa police launched an “extensive” investigation looking at the fraud that took place from November 2023 to October 2024.

As a result, two people were arrested and charged.

The former city employee was charged with:

• Breach of Trust (Section 122)
• Municipal Employee Receiving a Bribe (Section 123(d))
• Fraud Over $5,000

The landlord was charged with: