Abotech Scandal Update
The Abotech story continues to intrigue me. More inconsistencies are developing. Just who is in charge of Abotech?
[The story gets even more interesting. See this latest update for information about the corporate offices of Abotech.]
Liberal MP David Smith, representing the riding of Pontiac, is embroiled in a potential scandal, involving a company for which he was president, and that now he says he has no contact, but is run by his wife:
From the Strategis website run by Industry Canada, last updated April 4, 2005:
Now didn't David Smith say he severed all ties with Abotech? The federal government seems to be of a different opinion.
And no, it's not his son. David Smith has two children, Cynthia and Sebastien.
Now if the government had questions, or needed to contact Abotech about a contract, or even about the audit that is causing all the hubbub, according to the government's own database, the government would have gotten in touch with Liberal MP David Smith.
According to the database, David Smith is in charge of government relations. Which is funny, since he is a member of the government. I suppose relations are going just smoothly then.
And here's something cute:
Most recently, Mr Smith worked as a strategic planning officer for service integration at Public Works and Government Services Canada.
Wasn't PWGSC in charge of the Sponsorship Program?
Oh, yes it was.
Just one more thing -- for a computer consulting company, it seems odd that Abotech does not have a web presence, or it's own domain (note how David Smith is using a Videotron email account -- it's like the president of Nortel using his Yahoo account as his official email).
The company doesn't appear in the Yellow Pages.
The phone number doesn't track via the reverse phone directory.
Almost like the company doesn't really exist, except on paper.
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Comments
Either the Liberals are getting extremely stupid(ie: someone left the cover off the memory hole) or they really don't give a damn about being caught in a lie anymore. Both of these possibilities disturb me greatly as we are either being "led" by people too dumb to properly cover their tracks or so arrogant they figure it doesn't matter anymore.
Posted by: Shawn at October 19, 2005 01:30 PM
I'm shocked, shocked! by these allegations.
Posted by: Temujin at October 19, 2005 02:01 PM
Without necessarily disagreeing with you, Angry, I will point out that government, corporate and private websites contain out-of-date information all the time, notwithstanding whatever it says on their "Last updated" page. That isn't even Abotech's website; it's Strategis Canada's website *about* Abotech.
I'm not discounting the possibility, but I also hold that one should never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence or bureaucratic delay. There's more than enough of all three to go around in any government.
Posted by: Stephen J. at October 19, 2005 02:11 PM
Just as an example, my own company website still contains photos and detailed bios for two staff members who haven't been with us for months. You'd think we, a small company with a simple website, would be right on top of that. We weren't. Why should a vast labyrinthine bureaucracy handling contact information for thousands of companies do any better?
Posted by: Stephen J. at October 19, 2005 02:14 PM
If Abotech were dormant, I'd agree. But contracts have been terminated, which means someone got in touch with the company recently, meaning they potentially got in touch with Dave Smith, who then would have known there were problems, not just with Abotech, but with the Strategis database.
You would think he'd be quick-like to remove his name from a company in scandal.
Posted by: Angry in T.O. at October 19, 2005 02:32 PM
"Most recently, Mr Smith worked as a strategic planning officer for service integration at Public Works and Government Services Canada."
Hmmm. Our ethical and apolitical civil service.
Posted by: Jim Whyte at October 19, 2005 02:56 PM
Without going to Strategis myself, I notice that the clip shown above indicates when this entry was last updated: 2005-04-25.
And as I recall, the election of Mr. Smith as a Member of Parliament for the Pontiac region of Quebec under the Liberal Party banner was in June of 2004.
As for the company, there are thousands of "companies" in existence in Canada which really only conduct business part-time, some exist for tax purposes. Without knowing more details, the lack of a traditional business presence (yellow pages, reverse phone directory hit, website) isn't telling in and of itself.
Posted by: Paul O at October 19, 2005 07:30 PM
Stephen J. you wrote:
:Just as an example, my own company website still contains photos and detailed bios for two staff members who haven't been with us for months. You'd think we, a small company with a simple website, would be right on top of that. We weren't. Why should a vast labyrinthine bureaucracy handling contact information for thousands of companies do any better?:
I think you and your small company wouuld have taken care of business in a hurry if there was a chance of "Conflict of Interest".
Posted by: capt_bob at October 19, 2005 07:34 PM
 
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