BlackBerrys, weapons, cash top list of items missing in annual federal inventory

OTTAWA – Hundreds of weapons, BlackBerrys, laptops and iPads are missing, stolen or destroyed in the federal government’s annual accounting of its property.

But the biggest reported losses are related to tax and employment insurance frauds, amounting to millions of dollars.

The missing money and absent items are outlined in an annual report to Parliament tabled today.

The amount of tax fraud — both income tax and GST — discovered in the last year is estimated at about $250 million, down from more than $300 million last year.

But employment insurance fraud is up, to about $159 million, or $30 million higher than the year before.

The federal government also says it deposited cash into individual accounts in error nearly 7,500 times, for a total of $3 million.