6.12 Investigations

Form

6.12.1 Investigations

Cases should be referred to the Director of EIA Support Services where it appears that inaccurate and possibly fraudulent statements have been made, once all available sources of information have been exhausted. Each referral should indicate the type of information required. All pertinent details such as file number, full name, address, gender, age, date of birth and social insurance number, should be provided. Where appropriate, documentation should also include all known facts pertaining to the spouse, such as last known employment, addresses, friends or relatives.

6.12.2 Lost or Stolen Cheques or Vouchers

Policy

Procedures Regarding Forgeries of Cheques (PDF 76 KB)

Form

Statutory Declaration (PDF 17 KB)

When a person claims a need for assistance that has resulted from the loss or theft of his or her income assistance cheque or voucher, the following procedures apply:

The participant is required to report the loss or theft to local police.
The director or designate may:

issue a replacement cheque or voucher after the participant has signed a duly witnessed Statutory Declaration in which the circumstances of the loss are described and the participant swears that he or she did not negotiate the payment; or
deny replacement for a period of up to two weeks, followed by the issuance of assistance for food on a weekly prorated basis after obtaining the required Statutory Declaration.

If the missing cheque or voucher has been cashed, the Department of Finance will send a copy of the cheque or voucher to the appropriate Employment and Income Assistance office.
The participant is required to examine the signature and, where appropriate, deny by Statutory Declaration (often referred to as a "fraud form") that the endorsement is his or her own. Staff may obtain a copy of the Statutory Declaration form used to declare that the endorsement is not the participant's signature through the Intranet SAP Financial Forms. The original copy of the Statutory Declaration ("fraud form") and a copy of the endorsed cheque are to be forwarded to The Department of Finance - Bank Reconciliation.
Copies of all documents forwarded to The Department of Finance are to be maintained in the participant's hard-copy file.
Where partial replacement has been issued, and the participant's claim is substantiated, the balance of assistance due may be released.

6.12.3 Returned Assistance Cheques

An investigation should be initiated when an assistance cheque is returned to the EIA office under unusual circumstances, such as if the participant is absent from the province, the existence of an apparent common-law union or a situation involving possible fraud.

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