Debbie McGrath cried and hugged her lawyer in provincial court in St. John's Monday morning, telling her that the past number of years have felt very long.
After a two-week trial held late last year, McGrath was acquitted of fraud, forgery and theft charges after Judge Colin Flynn determined that while her actions were "highly questionable to the point of suspicion," the Crown had not proven her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
McGrath, 51, is a former administrator for the province's health laboratory, and was accused of defrauding it of thousands of dollars by falsifying purchase orders for payment from the lab's research account between 2006 and 2012.
At trial, an Eastern Health accountant testified she had realized there were a number of salary-related cheque requests coming into the payroll department from employees, and had asked staff to flag them for a closer look.
McGrath testified her superior, Dr. Sam Ratnan, had been aware she was signing her own payroll requisitions. McGrath said there was information missing from some of the documents presented in court that would have supported her evidence, and her payments had been recorded in internal financial statements.
“One would expect the person responsible for the accounting at the Public Health Laboratory to be accurate in the accounting process."
— Judge Colin Flynn
McGrath was also questioned about two trips she took: one to New York in relation to a research study undertaken by the lab, and another to Hawaii for a conference. She said Ratnan had authorized her to take both trips, for which travels claims had been made in the amounts of $2,792.72 and $4,896.37 respectively.
Ratnan, former longtime director of the Public Health Lab, also testified, saying he had not authorized the payments in question and was unaware of McGrath travelling to New York and Hawaii, though he had approved several trips for her during her employment with the lab.
Ratnan told the court he had destroyed all electronic documents related to research studies undertaken by him as director of the lab when he retired in 2011.
In delivering his verdict Monday, Flynn said he had issues with the reliability of the evidence of a number of witnesses who had testified, and concerns with the veracity of some of McGrath's testimony.
He noted in particular McGrath's claim that most of the payments to her were in even amounts because they had been rounded up.
"I must say I found this evidence astounding," Flynn said. “One would expect the person responsible for the accounting at the Public Health Laboratory to be accurate in the accounting process."
Flynn noted there was evidence to support McGrath's assertion that some documents were missing. He also noted "the entire financial accounting with respect to the research side of the Public Health Laboratory was problematic to the point of being unreliable."
"I find that the actions of Ms. McGrath with respect to payments to her for the period in question to be highly questionable to the point of being very suspicious," the judge said. "However, the destruction of many of the records of the research activities, along with the lack of clarity of recollection of a number of aspects of the process by Dr. Ratnan, the rather lax approach to the accounting process at that time by Eastern Health and by Ms. McGrath, requires me to ask, based on all the evidence, am I satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. McGrath did by dishonest acts defraud the Public Health Laboratory of moneys. I cannot, with the degree of certainty necessary for proof beyond a reasonable doubt, come to that conclusion."
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
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