‘Not right’

Rene Lindquist said it’s embarrassing that the financial secretary of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Local 255 has allegedly misappropriated more than $175,000 over a seven-year period.

Sixty-four-year-old Wayne Asselin of Nipigon has been charged with theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and criminal breach of trust. Local 255 represented paper workers at the Red Rock mill, which closed in November 2006.

“The membership elects these people in their offices…they trust these people,” Lindquist, a national CEP representative, said Tuesday morning. “I’m really upset about stuff like this; it’s not right.”

When the Red Rock mill closed in 2006, Local 255 was put into trusteeship because it had quit paying the national their share of union dues, said Lindquist, who was named the trustee that handled the local’s case.

When the trustee is named, the union’s assets are seized so the national union can investigate areas where they have suspicions.

“You only have suspicions when you don’t get the co-operation from the local; I wasn’t getting any cooperation from the financial secretary-treasurer of the local,” said Lindquist.

Upon investigating, Lindquist received some materials from the financial secretary and a red flag went up.

“I delved deeper and deeper into it and we found there was something funny going on here and it wasn’t right,” he said.

Lindquist began working with the individual to recover the funds and the national was conducting their own internal investigation before the police became involved.

“Typically we are able to fix the problems and at the end of the day disperse the assets to the members in a fair, equitable procedure and everybody just moves on,” he said. “We were doing this and then next thing you know I guess one of the members got wind of it and went to the police. Now the police are involved, charges have been laid.”

The OPP began their investigation in December 2008 when a union member brought their concerns about the depleted accounts to police.

Although the internal investigation stopped when the police became involved, Lindquist said he will do everything he can to regain the amount they believe is missing.

“That money belongs to the members,” he said. “Representing the national, we want to make sure the members get that money back…we will do everything in our power to do that.”

Lindquist added that if at any time they had not been successful in resolving the situation themselves, they would have went to the police.

“I’m not so much after a pound of flesh as I was after the assets because I wanted to get that back to the members who need it,” he said.

Asselin will appear in court on April 19.