The Abotech Affair: Smokescreen
This is not a new post, but I thought the closing remarks of this other post deserved a spot of their own, if only to help me organize my thoughts.
Basically, I'm wondering if I've been pursuing the wrong line of inquiry in the Abotech affair, or perhaps more acccurately, one of lesser importance to the real problem behind this scandal.
Technorati Tags: David Smith, Frank Brazeau, Abotech, Liberal Party, RCMP, pensions
As you recall, Liberal MP David Smith, who sits in Parliament for the riding of Pontiac and claims to be an aboriginal, ran a company called Abotech, a computer consultancy firm, out of his home. Now the company is run by his wife, a nurse. Smith insists he has no idea what is going in Abotech.
Abotech has been caught up in a KPMG audit at PWGSC. Several contracts between Abotech and the federal government have been terminated. Why? No one is saying. Also, a bureaucrat named Frank Brazeau has been suspended without pay in connection with the audit. Frank Brazeau is also David Smith's cousin. Why was he suspended? No one is saying.
For a full list of posts related to this scandal, check out the Abotech archive.
The reports we have from the media state the problem has to do with sole-sourcing contracts. In other words, this is a problem of process, not of quality of work. Abotech itself is innocent, or so it is implied. In fact, it is the victim in this drama. It is being punished because it accepted contracts from an incompetent or corrupt government official, a certain Frank Brazeau, who did not follow the rules.
Frank Brazeau, a consultant with Project Management Services at Public Works and Government Services Canada, was suspended without pay. In fact, he is the only person we know of for certain that has been punished in this matter, even though the details are unclear.
Abotech itself, David Smith's firm, was given a clean bill of health by none other than Public Works Minister Scott Brison on the floor of the House of Commons:
Mr. Speaker, first of all, we decided to cancel these contracts as part of an overall review as we strengthen governance and improve competition and value for tax dollars. It is important to note that there was no issue with the services being provided, and in fact, that value was received for tax dollars.
But Abotech appears somehow involved in millions of dollars of bogus expenses charged to the RCMP pension fund while Abotech was involved in the management of that fund.
Bogus hospitality and staffing expenses are not so easily dismissed, nor can the blame for them be easily shifted.
The more I think about it, the more it bothers me. In June 2005, the RCMP gets a report from the investigation into the bogus expenses, a problem that happened when David Smith was running the company in 2003. The report does not recommend criminal charges, but administrative changes are forthcoming. Some weeks later, Abotech starts losing contracts, under the guise of a bureaucratic problem.
Is the sole-sourcing problem for which Abotech is being punished, and that was so breezily dismissed by Minister Brison as really an opportunity to improve on the quality work provided by Abotech, just a smokescreen? Is it a way to deal with a potentially embarrassing problem in a quiet way, especially with a minority government in the balance? Is Frank Brazeau guilty of being a convenient scapegoat? Does he even know what is really going on, or has he been simultaneously promised a reward for his silence and threatened with retribution if he talks?
Is this about protecting David Smith and one extra Liberal seat so crucial for the survival of the minority government? Is this about trying to avoid one more multi-million dollar scandal, a scandal that might prove fatal to the scandal-ridden Liberal Party if it becomes public just prior to an election? Is my theory about aboriginal set-asides being diverted by Frank Brazeau to David Smith just plain wrong, or at best, a side show?
I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that I've been barking up the wrong tree.
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Comments
Angry--don't beat yourself up if you miss something. How long has the FBI and the RCMP been after the Mafia and they still haven't figured it out. How long has the medical community been trying to understand cancer and been trying to find a cure. Now mix these two together and you have this government. We can only pick at the edges--none of us are corrupt or devious enough to be able to follow the hidden trail in this and other areas--even Justice Gomery couldn't figure it all out.
Brison is a typical Liberal--why would anyone believe what comes out of his mouth?
I have been wondering for years why no one has complained about CPP funds being invested in the stock market. Can you imagine the power the people running CPP wield in the market?
Abotech is, like adscam, just a minute example of what is going on. I applaud you for your hard work on this file--but you are up against an underworld mentality. These people will never get caught--they have underlings who are fall guys--the majority of people will read that someone has paid the price for this scam--but those in charge just keep on stealing. Paul Coffin got curfew and has to teach our children about ethics in business! Does this sound like things will change any time soon?
Posted by: George at November 18, 2005 05:08 PM
The Gomery Deception
Beryl P. Wajsman
"What is at stake today is nothing less than the vindication of Canadian consequence. Paul Martin and his Liberals are not the heirs of Trudeau. They are the heirs of Nixon. What they are engaged in is nothing less than the perversion of our Parliamentary democracy and the subversion of our Constitutional protections. They have been practicing the politics of duplicity and deceit. If they are counting on Canadians having been rendered so senseless that they cannot recognize how they have been manipulated, they are making a grave error. We are not so loyal to the sovereignty of self-abnegation that we will fail to redeem our national purpose.
We need a leadership in this new millennium that is true and bold. A leadership that does not rest on top of a fence but one that climbs heights. And from those heights presents a noble vision candidly proposed and clearly proclaimed. Paul Martin will be challenged to allow for an open and honest contest for the leadership of a party of principle, as well as power, in order to secure the future of this nation. The great and good people of this land are rousing from their slumber. They will seek to realize the possibilities of their capacities. And Mr. Martin and his cohorts will finally come to understand the admonition of Frederick the Great that, “It is a political error to practice deceit if deceit is carried too far.”
iapm.ca
Posted by: maz2 at November 18, 2005 09:10 PM
Does David Smith have any connection to RCMP Commissioner Zacardelli?
Posted by: Bruce Randall at November 19, 2005 10:45 AM
And in related news, Public Works has banned the hiring of white males, preferring women, minorities and aboriginals.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8b38e8a9-f7de-460b-9bd7-723991e9d12e
Gotta wonder if David Smith counts as aboriginal or white male?
Posted by: Surecure at November 19, 2005 11:33 AM
If your instincts are trying to tell you something then you are likely right.
The considerable amount of effort and time you have put into this is admirable, if the media would even put all of this out there it would be a boost. If you feel there is much more than you are right, it is likely way more complicated and deeper than we will ever know. Why you are doing all the work of the police and media is astounding in itself and proves that your conspiracy theories are correct. Canadians should be terrified right now and yet they are content to be blissfully ignorant. I blame the media the most because if they would put half the effort in properly reporting the stuff that you do then authorities would have to do something, the public would demand it.
Just so you know, I am absolutely mortified of the liberals hanging on to power, sick at the very idea, enough that I find myself trying to come up with a plan to leave but don't think I qualify for immigration to many countries. I don't want to see what this country will be like in another decade or so if they retain power and I don't believe that I can afford it either. I wonder how Australia would feel about a large influx of Canadian refugees??
Posted by: Anne (mad in Ontario) at November 19, 2005 12:27 PM
Do you know who would be really interested in all of these details? The other candidates in the Pontiac Riding. From 'No Dice'
http://www.nodice.ca/elections/canada/ridings-quebec-4.php
they are:
CON-Lawrence Cannon
BQ-Hubert Leduc
NDP-Céline Brault
GRN-Thierry Vicente
Since I like Conservatives, I looked up Mr. Cannon.
http://lawrencecannon.com/contact.html
Here is the letter I wrote him:
---------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Cannon,
Let me start out by wishing you much luck in the next federal election. In my opinion the corrupt Liberals must be defeated to end their culture of entitlement. To that end I would like to draw your attention to the in-depth investigation that one of Canada’s most respected bloggers, Steve Janke, has been conducting. Not satisfied with the Globe and Mail’s and National Post’s glossing over of facts, Mr. Janke has revealed many startling connections in the scandal. Specifically:
- Federal contracts that Smith’s company acquired, without a bidding process, were facilitated by his cousin, Frank Brazeau working on the inside at public works. Mr. Brazeau has since been suspended from public works without explaination.
- Abotech was the firm that managed the contract with Morneau Sobeco on behalf of the federal government, that contract in turn for Morneau Sobeco's services in managing the RCMP pension fund. Currently, the federal government is being sued for $30 Billion over the mismanagement of pension surpluses, including the RCMP fund Abotech was contracted to manage. (http://angrygwn.mu.nu/archives/134221.php)
I hope this can help you get elected in your riding. This link is an archive of all Mr. Janke’s findings on this scandal: http://angrygwn.mu.nu/archives/cat_abotech.php
---------------------------------------------
Posted by: slider at November 19, 2005 01:11 PM
Good work, Angry - what a tangled web. Is it worth going this route:
From the Office of the Auditor General:
Under the Auditor General Act, the Auditor General chooses which matters to examine through performance audits. The Office receives many requests to conduct audits from individual citizens, groups, members of Parliament, senators, and others. These are all carefully reviewed and taken into consideration in the selection process. However, final decisions about what to audit are made in light of our mandate, the significance of the issue, the existing audit schedule, and available resources. The Office of the Auditor General pays particular attention to requests for audits from parliamentary committees; however, the ultimate decision about what to audit rests with the Auditor General.
Posted by: Linda at November 19, 2005 06:50 PM
Yet Linda it is the Lie-beral government, for the past twelve years, who have blocked the Auditor General from examining many areas that that she wanted to investigate.
Posted by: Bruce Randall at November 20, 2005 12:08 PM
Given a clean bill of health by none other than Public Works' Scott Brison. Brison would give Satan hemself a certificate of goodness without second thought. Fine credability that is. TG
Posted by: TonyGuitar at November 21, 2005 02:35 PM
 
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