A municipal gas card normally used for snow clearing operations in Halifax was instead used to pay for more than $11,000 worth of fill–ups in five different Ontario jurisdictions, CBC News has learned.

The fraudulent use of one of the city's 219 gas cards was first raised in a report released by the municipal auditor general in September. Larry Munro says the card was "compromised" three years ago and there were "unusual transactions.”

CBC News has learned more details through a Freedom of Information request. Information from a GE Fleet card was used 15 times between August and October 2011 at Husky Oil stations in Etobicoke, Joyceville, Mississauga, Scarborough and Markham.

Most of the transactions ranged from $653 and $1099, although there were a couple of smaller fill-ups that were less than $80. The total bill came to $11,698.83.

City managers appear to begin investigating the charges in January 2012, months after the card was used in Ontario.

An email from a winter works supervisor said: "I have not been out of province and certainly did not use my GE card out of the province. The only thing we use our GE cards for are fuel purchases here in HRM for our Sidewalks West Winter Operations. Please report this as fraudulent activity."

System 'not up to par'

After an email exchange between credit card company GE Fleet Canada and city managers, the charges were resolved in April 2012. Halifax did not have to pay for the Ontario fill–ups.

In the Auditor General's report, managers admitted that similar transactions would not have been detected had they taken place in Nova Scotia instead of Ontario. The report calls this lack of control and oversight extremely concerning.

The city says the card itself was not stolen, but the information was used to pay for the fraudulent purchases.

A spokesperson for the city, Jennifer Stairs, says a new system to prevent this kind of problem from recurring is being worked on.

“The AG's report was just earlier this year and we fully acknowledge the system is not up to par," Stairs said. "We're looking at those improvements, but that is still ongoing."