A lawsuit filed against Amber Fisher last month alleges she stole more than half a million dollars from the Gilbert Plains municipality.
The lawsuit was filed on July 25 and it accuses the former CAO of breaching her contract through criminal, fraudulent, and unlawful conduct. The lawsuit alleges that between September 2020 and July 2021, Fisher made 33 transfers from the municipality's bank account to her own, with the total being about $515,000.
While nothing has been proven in court, Fisher is also accused of falsifying bank statements to hide the transfers, giving councillors non-legitimate reports that cleared her of any fraud, and making up a story that she had been the victim of a cyberattack.
Amber began working for the municipality in 2018 as a senior administrative officer before she was promoted to chief administrative officer in 2020. She was suspended in the summer of 2021 before Amber provided bank statements to the municipality's auditors in March of 2022, but they were later determined to be modified from the originals. Then in June of 2022, MNP was hired by Gilbert Plains to investigate. It was found that Fisher transferred roughly $532,000 to her personal bank account.
Fisher has reportedly repaid about $17,000; however, the municipality is suing to retrieve the rest of the funds and for general, special, and punitive damages.
The investigation continues. We have reached out to the RCMP for comment.
