The City of Surrey is trying to recover $2.5 million plus costs and interest after filing a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against a former city hall employee whose name has not yet been made public.

Nothing has yet been proved or disproved in court.

City Manager Rob Costanzo said Thursday the civil claim was filed in 2024 after "irregular transactions" were discovered dating back to 2017 that involved dormant development-deposit accounts. 

Costanzo issued a statement on May 8 saying city hall "immediately commenced" an internal review involving external forensic specialists and also "immediately reported to the Surrey RCMP who are conducting a criminal investigation. Since then, the City has enhanced its processes to prevent a similar occurrence.

"No current City employee is named in the City鈥檚 civil action and no additional staff member has been implicated. Privacy legislation prevents the City from commenting on individual employment matters, including those concerning relatives of the former employee," Costanzo added.

Further, the city manager said, Surrey residents "can be assured that decisive steps have been taken to protect public funds and to recover the full amount on their behalf. Because the matter is before the courts, the City is unable to comment further at this time."

Constanzo said the discovery was related to Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and council鈥檚 "mandate to ensure fiscally responsible government and to safeguarding every taxpayer dollar."

Locke has not yet responded to requests for comment. Councillors Linda Annis, Harry Bains and Pardeep Kooner could be reached.

Annis said Friday she "can't really speak much about it (the case)" on account of it being before the court.

"I'm uncomfortable talking about the subject in general until I've really had a chance to talk to staff about it because I don't know enough about it," she said. 

Kooner was also reluctant to speak to the case itself, but it's her opinion that it's because council is being "good stewards" of public money "that it was even discovered. 

"I think they (the public) should be glad that we're doing what needs to be done to get the money back," she said. "I really don't want to comment because it is in the court and it's not really my place to discuss operations like in general about the City and their departments. I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on any of that especially because it is in the court. But I think that people can be happy that we discovered it and we're doing what needs to be done to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Bains, who is a lawyer, spoke to public confidence in the City of Surrey's stewardship of its money.

"I think the city should have great confidence in the stewardship of the city's finances with the current administration. I think the fact that this has been found, that this has been processed, is a sign that we take this role very seriously in leading the city in a responsible manner," he told the Now-Leader.

"It's our council's mandate to ensure fiscally responsible government and having staff identify ways to save money, also ways to ensure that the system is working as it should."

Bains said he doesn't know how long the alleged "irregular transactions" had been going on. "And those details are obviously part of the court case so even if I do I wouldn't be able to assist."