Richmond Plywood Corp. Ltd. is suing its former payroll administrator Marilou Ilao, the Bank of Montreal, ADP Canada Co. and auditor KPMG Inc., claiming Ilao defrauded the employee-owned company of more than $1.2 million between 2003 and 2014.
Richmond Plywood (Richply) filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on May 20. The company claims the fraud was discovered in May 2014 when an employee requested a record of employment before a sick leave.
“As a result of the employee’s request, it was discovered that Ilao requested a cheque for the employee during his sickness leave yet the employee did not receive the cheque,” the claim states. “This discovery triggered an internal investigation and audit at Richply which revealed payroll cheques payable to other Richply employees who had not worked during the prescribed pay period.”
On May 27, 2014, Ilao allegedly admitted to defrauding the firm of $35,000 starting in 2013 and agreed to resign and pay the money back. But the company later discovered that Ilao had requested cheques from ADP fraudulently for nine years totalling $1,242,089, the claim states.
Richmond Plywood seeks damages for fraud, breach of contract, unjust enrichment and conversion.
The defendants had not filed responses to the claim by press time and none of the allegations have been proven or tested in court.
— Business in Vancouver
