ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A new report finds the former head of Newfoundland and Labrador’s liquor corporation withheld over 600 pages of evidence while he was being investigated for a possible conflict of interest after the NLC purchased wine from his son’s business.
Bradley Moss, the province’s citizens’ representative, published the report on Thursday, which says former NLC CEO Steve Winter was required by law to submit the evidence, but it’s too late to charge him with an offence.
“However, this report declares a misconduct on behalf of the former CEO,” Moss wrote in the report.
Winter was removed from his position with the Crown corporation in 2018 under a cloud of controversy.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s citizens’ representative is a provincewide ombudsman service that investigates complaints from citizens who feel their dealings with government agencies were unfair.
The office first investigated Winter in 2015, after someone complained Winter had a conflict of interest when the NLC bought wines from his son’s business. The person also alleged Winter’s son made commission on those purchases, according to Moss’s report.
Moss said Winter withheld 609 pages of emails from the investigator at the time. The “large body” of emails revealed an “intimate business nexus” existed at the time of the investigation, Moss wrote. “This intimate business nexus was not disclosed and was denied outright to my predecessor."
In his report, Moss says his office re-examined the original investigation after the province’s former auditor general, Julia Mullaley, looked at the situation.
In February 2020, she delivered a blistering report which concluded that from 2007 to 2018, the NLC bought millions of dollars worth of high-end Bordeaux wines from Winter’s son, some priced at thousands of dollars per bottle. With little customer demand, Mullaley found they often had to be sold in stores at deep discounts. She also found the sales benefited Winter’s son and that emails indicated Winter was well aware of this.
In his report Thursday, Moss recommends the fines for obstructing investigations by his office be raised from to $10,000 from $500. He also recommends that the Citizens Representative Act be changed so his office has more time to press charges, if warranted.
Moss also indicates that he contacted Winter about his findings and did not get a response. The Canadian Press was unable to reach Winter for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2020.
The Canadian Press
