(Ottawa) Janak Alford, this senior manager of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC) who is both responsible for IT within this federal agency and owner of the company Symaiotics Corporation, comes to launch a new company in the high-tech sector, Loper Technology Canada Corporation, has learned The Press.
This propensity of FINTRAC’s chief technology officer to create companies raises questions about the time he devotes to his position within the federal apparatus and the risks of placing himself in a conflict of interest situation. interests, according to an expert from the federal administration. The Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois, for their part, believe that an investigation is necessary in this matter.
Mr. Alford found himself in the hot seat recently after The Press revealed that his company Symaiotics had developed an application, mPersonawhich relies on artificial intelligence and which was tested for four months by 34 federal compensation officials to find solutions to the numerous problems of the Phoenix pay system.
PHOTO SANDY ALFORD, FROM THE INTELLIGENT DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM WEBSITE
FINTRAC Chief Technology Officer Janak Alford
Read the article “AI to the rescue of the Phénix payroll system: the duplication of a senior manager creates a stir”
The problem is that Mr. Alford never declared that he owned this company during the two meetings organized by senior officials of the Department of Public Services and Procurement (PSPC) last fall to evaluate the use of artificial intelligence in processing the compensation of federal civil servants.
These undeclared links caused an uproar within the department responsible for the Phoenix pay system when The Press began to ask questions on this subject, leading to a chaotic cutting of ties with the company and pushing a deputy minister to mention “values issues”.
This controversy did not prevent Mr. Alford from founding a new high-tech company, Loper Technology Canada Corporation, in February, according to an incorporation he made with the Ministry of Industry.
“Based for future use”
FINTRAC is a federal agency responsible for screening large financial transactions and combating money laundering and terrorist financing. This agency is the responsibility of the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland.
When asked about this, FINTRAC’s senior management showed little concern about this new approach from the agency’s chief technology officer. She also showed little concern that the software developed by Mr. Alford’s company had been tested by federal employees.
“Mr. Alford informed FINTRAC of this, but did not submit a confidential declaration in connection with the creation of Loper Technology Canada Corporation, since the company is not operational, does not carry out any activities, does not own any assets and has no employees. The company was founded for future use only,” said Erica Constant, FINTRAC spokesperson.
Employees must disclose any change in their personal circumstances that may result in a real, apparent or potential conflict of interest. Due to the state of the previously mentioned company, the employee did not declare its creation because there was no indication that it constituted such a conflict of interest.
Erica Constant, FINTRAC spokesperson
Mme Constant added that Mr. Alford’s role within the company was evaluated by FINTRAC’s chief human resources officer, in accordance with the Centre’s code of conduct, values and ethics, “and we determined that this does not constitute a real, apparent or potential conflict of interest at this time.”
“Mr. Alford was given conditions to ensure that his personal activities outside of his role as FINTRAC’s chief technology officer remain entirely separate from his duties at the Center,” she also said.
Legality vs morality
But according to Geneviève Tellier, full professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, the explanations given by FINTRAC are far from reassuring.
” It’s a question [opposant] legality [et] morality. It’s legal, but is it moral? It seems like a bit of a lackadaisical response from FINTRAC. He seems to be trivializing all of this a little. The argument that the company is not active does not hold water. From the moment the company exists, it can do things without anyone knowing. Considering the track record, we would have expected better,” analyzes Geneviève Tellier.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus
The Conservative Party deplores FINTRAC’s lack of vigilance.
It is surprising that the agency whose mission is to facilitate the detection and prevention of money laundering is not able to detect irregularities within its own organization.
Pierre Paul-Hus, conservative MP
“This is just the latest in a long series of scandals from this government. The Liberals must shed light on this matter, tell us when they became aware of the problem, and what they are going to do to ensure that it does not happen again,” added Pierre Poilievre’s political lieutenant in Quebec.
The Bloc Québécois was also very critical. “There is at least one obvious fact. There is an appearance of conflict of interest. An investigation must be launched into this matter. We do not understand how this employee can still be employed by the federal public administration,” declared MP René Villemure, spokesperson for the Bloc Québécois on ethics.
For several months, the federal government has been considering expanding the use of artificial intelligence in the deployment of its numerous programs. This shift could represent a real windfall of contracts for private companies working in this sector.
With the collaboration of William Leclerc, The Press