CNIB court docs says operators 'converted' money for personal use

While the CNIB says it's not accusing four former lottery booth operators of taking money, court documents show it claims the operators "converted" the money for personal use.

The CNIB an organization that helps visually impaired Canadians operates lottery booths in stores across Atlantic Canada under a contract with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, selling ALC products. The charity hires subcontractors to operate the booths.

CNIBlaunched legal action against former kiosk operatorsto recover a total of approximately $100,000 in missing funds.

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In a statement issued Feb.6, CNIB said its legal actions are about holding people to their contracts and not "about accusing individuals of taking the funds directly."

However, court filings refute that.

In the case of Ed Houseof Truro,N.S.,CNIB's court documents say "the misappropriation of the cash and/or products ... constituted conversion," meaning the funds were used for his own purposes.They also allege House is liable for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.

In the case of Sandra Ellis, a kiosk operator in Summerside, P.E.I., accused of being short almost $40,000,CNIB court documents say she "converted monies belonging to CNIB, without its consent, for her own personal use and benefit."

Negligent managers?

Her lawyer, Stephen Ellis, who is also her son, has his own ideas of where the money went.

In filing a defence, he raises three possibilities:

• That there never was a shortfall
• That CNIB managers were negligent in handling the lottery booth's revenue
• That CNIB managers converted the money to their own personal use

The four being sued are in Halifax,Truro, Summerside and Bathurst, N.B. All four say they did nothing wrong. They say regular onsite audits were conducted by Paul McCarthy,CNIB's Atlantic gaming manager.

CNIB says it's working on an agreement with House, who operated a kiosk at the Truro Walmart. It says $29,000 was missing from his lotto booth.Last month, House told CBC News he asked CNIB to look internally for the losses.

"I kept telling them, guys, you gotta keep checking. It's in your system somewhere. There's a flaw in there."

House, like the other three former kiosk operators, says he was never shown a clear accounting of how the lottery money went missing.

Police cleared Ed House

Houses's case is the only one CNIB took to police. Truro police investigated and gave him a polygraph. They determined he was not a suspect and passed that information on to CNIB. However, the charity still took him to court and won a judgment against him when he missed the court date.

CBC asked the CNIB if it has conducted forensic audits in these cases.The charity did not respond.