The Insurance Council of BC (ICBC) has confirmed that at least three brokers have been fined for helping drivers avoid paying toll fees; the brokers in question accomplished the fraud by entering false payment receipt numbers into the Autoplan system.
Drivers with unpaid tolls cannot renew their licenses or car insurance until they pay up. The ICBC puts a “refuse-to-issue” hold on drivers’ files if the bills are over 90 days overdue, but this can be overridden if drivers pay the outstanding toll and give the official receipt number to an insurance broker, who then inputs the data into the Autoplan system.
“Brokers are given the capability to bypass a refuse-to-issue hold for legitimate reasons — primarily for when proof of payment is presented — but also so they can carry out transactions which do not have an insurance component, such as vehicle registration or transfer of ownership,” ICBC explained in a statement.
“However, in the instances which led to these sanctions, brokers were bypassing a refuse-to-issue hold when they should not have been. These actions were in clear violation of ICBC procedures, ICBC’s Code of Ethics and the ICBC Autoplan Agency Agreement.”
ICBC launched an investigation into the matter back in 2015 after it came across fake receipt numbers. After an 18-month inquiry, the insurance council revealed that it had a list of the bogus receipts, along with the names of the brokers that authorized the transactions; around 100 brokers are under investigation in relation to the case.
Three brokers have been identified so far by the council: Edmund George, Jacqueline Babcock, and Kanesaratna Lyer.
CBC reported that both George and Babcock have each been fined $5,000 for inputting falsified transaction data 84 times into the system between January 2014 and June 2015. A disciplinary order said that – in Babcock’s case – less than eight of the 50 debts authorized by the broker were paid within five days; the rest were either paid at a later date or never at all.
Lyer has been suspended for six months. A disciplinary ruling said that in 2015, he skipped paying his Port Mann bridge toll to renew his own car insurance. Although he later managed to pay the bill, he was still suspended for breaching his responsibility for his own “personal benefit or convenience.”
ICBC executive director Gerald Matier said that the council will continue to hound brokers perpetrating this type of fraud, and that more names will be revealed.
“There are a number of decisions where a tentative decision has been made, but the individual’s time to request a hearing has not expired,” he stated.
The executive director estimated that about 100 brokers are under investigation for their involvement in similar types of fraud.
A spokesperson for the ICBC said that due to the investigation’s findings, 27 broker offices were fined and had their Autoplan Agency Agreements temporarily suspended.
Related stories:
ICBC rate hike a “very serious and grave concern,” – Minister
Leaked report suggests ICBC auto rate hikes in the near future
