Angry in the Great White North

Several readers have sent me emails directing me to this exciting news in the Ottawa Citizen. David Smith and Frank Brazeau will be testifying about Abotech, Consulting and Audit Canada, and the RCMP Pension Scandal:

The unfolding puzzle of the crisis rocking the RCMP takes a twist today as a Commons committee examines the ties between the force's pension scandal and a contracting fiasco that dogged a Liberal MP in the last election.

The lineup of nine witnesses at the public accounts committee includes former Liberal MP David Smith, who found himself at the centre of a storm when a KPMG forensic audit found his company, Abotech Inc., was used by government departments to hire specific consultants, thus avoiding the competitive bidding process.

Mr. Smith ended up losing his seat in the Pontiac riding.

Testifying along with Mr. Smith will be Frank Brazeau, Mr. Smith's cousin and former campaign worker, who awarded Abotech most of the contracts while he was a project manager at Consulting and Audit Canada (CAC).

The best line is this one:

Until the RCMP pension crisis erupted, however, few realized that Mr. Brazeau and Mr. Smith were involved in the contracts the RCMP's National Compensation Police Centre issued to revamp and modernize the force's pension and insurance plans.

Ahem. From my posting on November 18, 2005:

What if the real problem was with the RCMP pension fund mismanagement scandal? Was the KPMG audit and the problem of "sole-source" contracts just a cover? A way of pushing Abotech out of the picture, but without going into the sordid details of bad "hospitality" charges. A way of telling the media and the public that this is just an administative issue, just a minor problem with the way the contract was structured, not really a big deal.

Remember what Public Works Minister Scott Brison said 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.

No issue with the services provided. This is just about improving governance and competition. But if the real reason was that Abotech was somehow linked to millions in bogus expenses being charged to the RCMP pension fund, then Brison would not be able to wave it away so easily.

But then maybe I'm on the wrong track here. Brison said it on the floor of the House during Question Period. Whatever else you do as a parliamentarian, you never actually lie.

To be entirely honest, I still wasn't sure just how connected Abotech was to the RCMP Pension Scandal at the time, especially since the scandal wasn't really a scandal yet. But I had all the pieces, and even then the way they fit together bothered me. A lot. Like something was seriously amiss here, but with everything else that was going on or on the verge of happening -- Sponsorship Scandal, the general election, Income Trusts -- Abotech seemed like small potatoes.

Abotech is of far more interest now:

The audit of CAC uncovered numerous examples of Treasury Board contracting rules being broken, bent or ignored.

It examined 45 consulting contracts, worth more than $7.3 million. Of those, 31 were contracts for work on the RCMP pension and insurance fund and most were handled by Mr. Brazeau.

Only two of the RCMP contracts went to Mr. Smith's Abotech, which he had turned over to his wife and children to operate. The others involved a half dozen other departments.

Many of the contracts involved retired public servants who fell under the one-year cooling off period and couldn't work for the government. Instead, CAC would direct the contract to Abotech as a middleman, which would collect a fee and turn it over to the contractor doing the work.

The audit found cases of contracts being manipulated to circumvent the calling of bids.

Stay tuned for what will most certainly be very interesting testimony at the Public Accounts Committee today. And look out for testimony from Public Works Deputy Minister David Marshall. He would have fired Brazeau and been responsible for the follow-up after the KPMG audit revealed the problems.