B.C. lottery boss terminated

The president and CEO of the B.C. Lottery Corporation has been fired following a scathing report by theprovince's ombudsmanthat found ticket retailers were winning too often.

In a written statement, the lottery corporation's board said it was terminating Vic Poleschuk effective immediately.

Lottery corporation chair John McLernon said a change of leadership is required as the board focuses on implementing ombudsman KimCarter's recommendations.

Carter saidthe lottery system is open to abuse and possible fraud, and that lottery officials failedto protectcustomers.

Following the report's release, Solicitor General John Les ordered an audit of the lottery corporation, saying he had many questions about the way it was doing business and why it did not follow up on questionable wins.

"You don't need to be a rocket scientist to put two and two together and figure out there's something fishy going on there," he said. "They should've gone down there like a rat down a drainpipe and figured it out."

He had also ordered the board to freeze all bonus payments to Poleschuk.

On Friday, Les said he supported the board's decision to fire Poleschuk, as the CEO of any corporation bears the ultimate responsibility for any wrongdoing.

Leswouldn't rule out other dismissals, but added he'll wait for the results of the independent audit before making any decision.

Poleschuk, who had held the top job since 1999, was earning more than $400,000 a year.