The Auditor General has come down hard on the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation—particularly former CEO Steve Winter. Winter was sent packing by government in 2018.
AG Julia Mullaley found that Winter acted in conflict of interest by having NLC purchase expensive Bordeaux Wines from companies represented by his son, Greg, as an agent.
Winters’ son was the largest known single agent that the NLC purchased Bordeaux wines from.
$4.6 million, or 29 per cent of the $15.6 million from 2010-2019 were purchased by his son or those representing his son’s company. @VOCMNEWS #nlpoli
— Ben Murphy (@VOCMBen) February 13, 2020
Mullaley says the NLC continued to stock the product line even though there was not much demand for it as it can cost six or seven times as much as the average bottle of wine.
She concludes that Winter participated in decisions to purchase the wine even though the supplier was represented by his son, Greg. In the Auditor General’s report, he is referred to as the “Non-Arm’s Length Agent” or NALA.
In an email exchange between the former CEO and the NALA* involving a particular
product, the NALA asked, “You know I sell it right?” to which the CEO responded,
“I do. That’s why I ordered it”.-Excerpt from Auditor General’s report.
The AG wants to see a total review of all government and Crown entities as it relates to conflict of interest.
The Citizen’s Representative investigated the situation with Winter, but Mullaley says the former CEO misrepresented information he supplied to that exercise.
Read the full report at this link.
Some interesting notes here. NALA stands for “Non-Arm’s Length Agent” aka, the former CEO’s son.
96 bottles brought in, in July 2017, four have been sold.
Those four were requested by the NALA in December 2017 for sampling purposes at a discounted price. @VOCMNEWS #nlpoli pic.twitter.com/4jiz59hqwL
— Ben Murphy (@VOCMBen) February 13, 2020