July 19, 2010
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News: Canadian Official Used Government CC at Strip Club
There is a growing phenomenon about government officials across the world that have been using their government issued credit cards to pay for alcohol and visits to strip bars. The latest news comes from Canada where Oxford County official, Warden Paul Holbrough posted over $780 on his county issued credit card at a U.S. strip club while on vacation. In an interview, Holbrough said that the charges were to pay for golf outings; however, shortly afterwards he acknowledge the transactions and said he used the county credit card because he had some difficulty with his own.
Oxford's policy strictly prohibits employees from using the county's credit card for any personal transactions. Holbrough said he didn't remember the transactions at first when questioned and that the expenses have already been charged back to him. He also noted that he was on personal time and as soon as he returned back home, he notified the county treasurer about the personal charges. At the time, all personal card transactions were charged back to Holbrough. The warden continued to defend his use of the county's credit card by saying that he was on personal time and only spent 20 minutes at the strip club on one day and that not all the charges were his.
Even though Holbrough denied the charges at first, he had a lot to say about them after acknowledging what had occurred. He said it could be easily verified that he has notified the treasure of the personal card charges immediately upon his return and he paid for the charges within a couple of weeks. Lynn Buchner, the county treasurer showed the Toronto Sun a copy of the a credit card acknowledgement form which was signed by Holbrough which outlines the country's policy where personal transactions are prohibited. The acknowledgment also states that the card is to be used for county business exclusively. The treasurer acknowledged that the warden had reimbursed the county the full amount.