(Ottawa) All contracts awarded by the federal government to Dalian Enterprises inc. and which are still active are suspended. The firm’s president and founder, David Yeo, was both a private consultant and a civil servant for the Ministry of National Defense. He was suspended on Wednesday.
“This is not normal,” reacted the President of the Treasury Board and former Minister of National Defense, Anita Anand.
The general controller was mandated by Mr.me Anand to conduct a thorough review of all contracts awarded to this company. Dalian is one of the firms at the heart of the financial fiasco ofArriveCAN. After GC Strategies which received 19 million, Dalian is the consulting firm which obtained the largest contracts for ArriveCANor nearly 8 million, according to a devastating report from the Auditor General.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board and former Minister of National Defense
“This individual should be immediately dismissed, there should be an immediate police investigation into his conduct and that of the company with which he is associated, as well as a wider investigation within the civil service into how these contracts were carried out. been authorized for so long,” reacted Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
The Press revealed on Tuesday that the chairman and founder of Dalian, David Yeo, had opened two companies in tax havens since 2011. A gesture which is not illegal in itself, but which should serve as a “red flag”, according to the CEO of the private investigation firm Vidocq, Jonathan Légaré.
The company is in the process of selling off part of its offices in downtown Ottawa. It shares a two-story commercial office with Coradix Technology Consulting with whom it forms a joint venture. The president of this company told a parliamentary committee last fall that 99% of Dalian’s contracts had come from the federal government since 2007.
Further details will follow.
With Vincent Larouche, The Press