A disciplinary hearing into the professional conduct of former District of Sechelt chief financial officer (CFO) Victor Mema by the Chartered Professional Accountants Alberta (CPAA) has been adjourned for a fourth time.
A March 14 email to Coast Reporter from the CPAA stated no new hearing date has been set. The most recent adjournment followed proceedings on four days between Feb. 22 and March 7. The hearing is considering alleged inappropriate financial transactions relating to Mema’s expenses when employed by Sechelt and the City of Nanaimo.
Background
Mema served as Sechelt’s CFO from April, 2013 to August, 2015, when he resigned to take a position with the City of Nanaimo. In 2017 Sechelt filed and later withdrew a Small Claims Court action against him seeking repayment of just under $10,000 in “admitted and obviously personal unapproved charges”, on his District-issued credit card.
In Nanaimo, Mema became CFO for that organization in 2016. He was fired in May 2018, for allegedly using a credit card issued for work purposes for over $14,000 of personal expenses.
A CPAA summary on the matter stated it provided notice in Nov. 19 that it would be conducting a disciplinary hearing into Mema’s actions while working for those two employers. Hearings, first scheduled in 2020, were adjourned when Mema filed an appeal to its disciplinary tribunal on the grounds that the CPAA was “statute-barred from hearing the matters," which took place in another province. The tribunal dismissed his appeal, and Mema appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal of Alberta in 2021. That court upheld the tribunal's decision in January 2022.
The disciplinary hearing by CPAA on the matter was rescheduled for October 2022. Those were adjourned and rescheduled for the most recent hearing dates.
With files from Sean Eckford
