Former Kleefeld Recreation Association member charged

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/01/2021 (1618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former board member of the Kleefeld Recreation Association (KRA) has been charged with Fraud over $5,000 and Using a Forged Document.

St Pierre RCMP announced the charges to 44-year-old Nicole Rempel of Kleefeld, which were filed Jan. 15, in a Wednesday press release.

RCMP were contacted by the RM of Hanover regarding the alleged misappropriation of funds from the KRA on Feb. 1, 2019, nearly two years ago.

“The officials advised that during the course of a regularly scheduled annual audit, they identified a number of suspicious transactions from within the KRA,” they said in a press release. “This led to a commission of a forensic financial review which, when completed, identified a misappropriation of funds valued at over $100,000.”

A number of irregularities were found dating between 2011 and 2018 where police say unsupported payments were made for non-KRA related expenses, including credit card payments and payments to retailers.

Rempel held various titles with the KRA including president, secretary and treasurer. She is scheduled to appear in St Pierre provincial court on March 23.

Rempel is already the subject of a lawsuit filed by the RM of Hanover’s insurance provider on Nov. 29, 2019. She was named as a defendant along with Chris Rempel and Guardian Property Services. In that case a total of $102,529 was being sought from Nicole Rempel and $26,519.14 from Chris Rempel.

The lawsuit alleges she forged board member signatures on cheques made out to herself and others. She is also alleged to have arranged payments to Chris Rempel and Guardian Property services, falsely claiming they were for association purposes.

Record keeping issues at the association first came to light in June 2018, when a routine annual audit identified accounting procedures that left the association exposed to possible “fraudulent activities”.

That September the RM of Hanover ordered a forensic audit and suspended Rempel from her board duties.