Multiple criminal investigations into federal contracting underway, RCMP reveals

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The RCMP is conducting more than half a dozen criminal investigations into federal contracting, the national police force revealed Tuesday.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme and Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn provided the new details during an appearance before the House of Commons committee on public accounts, which is holding hearings into Auditor-General Karen Hogan’s February report on contracting issues related to the ArriveCan app.

Deputy Commissioner Flynn later said the investigations include one that had already been disclosed focusing on ArriveCan, a pandemic-era app for international travellers that cost taxpayers an estimated $59.5-million, and others related to federal government contracting.

“With respect to this type of activity, there’s a broad number of investigations. Specific to ArriveCan, there’s one investigation specific to ArriveCan,” he said.

After he said there were “many” investigations, Conservative MP Larry Brock asked him whether the number was more than six. The Deputy Commissioner agreed but said he could not be more precise.

Issues related to ArriveCan have spurred months of committee hearings and numerous investigations by various watchdog agencies – and opened up a window into the billions of dollars the federal government spends each year on outsourcing.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in March that “significant changes” to federal procurement are needed. His ministers have been releasing policy changes to the way public servants award government contracts.

In March, federal ministers said an internal review of federal contracting found nearly $5-million in fraudulent billing by three private subcontractors and said those cases were referred to the RCMP.

The RCMP Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner declined Tuesday to answer questions seeking details on that announcement, referring back to their initial statement that several matters are under investigation related to contracting.

The federal procurement watchdog said in April that the government’s multibillion-dollar contracting system urgently needs a wide-ranging overhaul.

The Auditor-General’s report flagged concerns about interactions between private consultants who worked on the app and public servants. It also sharply criticized the lack of record-keeping and oversight of the millions of dollars spent on the app.

The report said the government spent about $59.5-million on consultants to help build and maintain the app, but also said a definitive total was not possible to calculate given the poor record-keeping related to the project.

Ms. Hogan told MPs in February that she met with the RCMP to inform them of her audit’s findings prior to the report’s release.

The RCMP initially said it was assessing the findings of Ms. Hogan’s report. Then in March, Commissioner Duheme said the force was investigating ArriveCan.

During an interview with CTV News at the time, Commissioner Duheme described it as an expansion of an existing investigation that was not directly focused on ArriveCan, but was looking into allegations that involved people with links to the app.

The Globe and Mail first reported in October that the RCMP is investigating allegations of misconduct involving an outsourced IT project at the Canada Border Services Agency. Those allegations were brought forward by small Montreal-based software company Botler. The CBSA oversaw both the Botler project and ArriveCan and Botler’s two co-founders interacted with CBSA officials and private contractors who also worked on ArriveCan.

Botler raised concerns about cozy ties between public servants and GCStrategies, the private contractor they say they were told to work with by the CBSA. GCStrategies was also the primary contractor on ArriveCan.

The CBSA launched its own investigation into Botler’s allegations and also referred them to the RCMP.

In April, the RCMP searched the home of GCStrategies managing partner Kristian Firth as part of its investigation into the Botler allegations.

Mr. Firth was also summoned to the bar of the House of Commons in April for a rare public rebuke after MPs on the government operations committee reported that he should be found in contempt of Parliament for not fully answering questions.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis expressed frustration Tuesday that the RCMP could not list all of the current investigations.

“I’m just asking how many police investigations are there into government corruption? There would have been a time when it would probably have been easy to say there are none. But we’re living in this different reality with the current government. So like, how many investigations are currently ongoing involving government corruption?” he asked.

Commissioner Duheme said it was too early to use the word corruption.

“We are currently investigating several files that are looking at the procurement process that could lead to some element of corruption, but at this point in time, I’m not saying that we’re anywhere close to that. And again, I don’t want to get into any details,” he said.

Commissioner Duheme said that if subjects of an investigation or their associates become aware of potential charges, it could potentially lead to the destruction of evidence, the intimidation of witnesses or prejudice an innocent person.

He said the force is trying to maintain the “really delicate balance” as to how much information can be shared with the public.

“When you are investigating a file of this nature, there is a strong appetite by Canadians to understand and know what took place,” he said. “We want to make sure we protect the integrity of the investigations.”