By Raneem Alozzi, Sherina Harris and Emma Sandri
Following credit card statements showing thousands in purchases in the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU)’s presidents name, The Eye confirmed statements on credit cards listed under the names of both the vice-president operations and financial controller.
The statements obtained by The Eye show credit card statements under the name of the vice-president operations Savreen Gosal and financial controller Dharshini Jay totalling thousands.
Two members of the Board of Directors (BoD) who wished to remain anonymous confirmed that these statements are legitimate.
The statements previously confirmed by The Eye using a card under president Ram Ganesh’s name included purchases to the LCBO, clubs, clothing shops and restaurants within the span of months.
At an emergency board meeting on Feb. 1, Jay confirmed that the total amount spent from May 1 to Feb. 1 was $273, 000.
The transactions on the credit card under Gosal’s name included $484.46 to WestJet Calgary, five purchases of $192.65 to AirCanada, $565.63 on an Airbnb, $196.62 on a towing service and $185.56 to Haze Lounge Inc., a shisha lounge in Mississauga.
“The charges were incurred on an RSU corporate card that is used by multiple individuals. As a result, while a certain Executive Committee member’s name may appear on a receipt, that does not indicate that the individual incurred that charge,” wrote the RSU’s lawyer in a statement provided to The Eye.
The lawyer added that the RSU is investigating the charges and passed a motion for PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct a forensic audit.
“The RSU is committed to being fully transparent with its members, but staff and Board Members cannot comment further while the investigation is underway,” the statement read.
There were also two purchases on the statements under Gosal’s name of $3,800 each to Love Child, a club in Toronto, on Oct. 12 and one of $579.62 on Oct. 13.
Ryerson’s fall reading week went from Oct. 6 to Oct. 12. The RSU hosted a homecoming event with the Toronto Argonauts on Oct. 12.
The RSU hosted an event at Love Child on Dec. 14, according to a post on their Facebook page.
On Oct. 12 on statements under Ganesh’s name previously confirmed by The Eye, there was a payment of $2,280.89 to the club EFS in Toronto.
The card under Jay’s name was also used to purchase an Airbnb for $1,583.10. Other purchases on the card included $1,108.05 to Tandoori Flame in Mississauga, $7,610.55 on a Cineplex corporate order, $99.28 to Freedom Mobile and several SkipTheDishes payments in Winnipeg.
At the Feb. 1 emergency BoD meeting, a motion passed to approve a forensic audit into the RSU’s finances. Feb. 1 was also the deadline for the executives to give Jay their receipts so she could reconcile their finances. At the meeting, it was decided that Jay would show the board the credit card statements on Feb. 6.
One BoD member said that these statements were among those shown to the board by Jay on Feb. 6.
Ryerson University also announced they would withhold RSU funds until the results of the audit were available.
The statements under Gosal’s name also included multiple purchases at McDonald’s locations in New York, as well as several Uber transactions with the words “foreign currency” and “exchange rate” written beside them.
There is a payment of $52.20 to Kings Theatre Spectrum Brooklyn on Dec. 14, as well as a payment to Joe’s pizza in New York on the same day.
“I’m a current board member and I won’t be able to reveal myself [because] people are trying to sue the shit out of us,” said the individual who first posted the statements on Facebook, under the pseudonym Emma Mackey.
“This scandal basically showed me that the RSU is fucked up and we should shut this fucking place down,” said Mackey in the Facebook post. “We should start supporting student groups and societies directly.”
Jay and Ganesh did not respond to request for comment in time for publication.
One credit card statement under Ganesh’s name, not previously published, was also included in the post. It included a $533.75 to an LCBO in Woodbridge, $433.02 to The Shore Club in Ottawa, $151.67 to Fran’s Restaurant and two payments of $436.18 and $744.67 to Long and McQuade, a music shop.
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