Three federal government consultants who allegedly “fraudulently” invoiced sums of money to numerous ministries and departments are currently under investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The amounts billed would amount to $5 million.
“Recent allegations have revealed unacceptable behavior on the part of some of our suppliers,” said the Minister of Public Services and Procurement of Canada, Jean-Yves Duclos, Wednesday in Ottawa.
These individuals would have invoiced hours worked for the same day to around forty departments and agencies between 2018 and 2022. Their security clearance was suspended.
The individuals have not been identified as an RCMP investigation is ongoing. A “series of exchanges” between the federal government and the RCMP took place in the last months before the investigation was launched.
These consultants, however, have no connection to the ArriveCAN saga, government officials said. The investigations into the three individuals concerned were launched well before the controversy that has shaken Ottawa in recent weeks.
“This billing [à de multiples ministères] occurred because, until recently, information was stored in paper format, in individual ministries. It was difficult for the teams responsible for billing to detect these cases,” explained Minister Duclos.
The latter ensures that, since the COVID-19 pandemic, 98% of government contracts are digitized and sent electronically, which facilitates the detection of potentially fraudulent cases.
The Ministry of Supply is currently looking for other similar cases, assured the minister. The latter admitted that he expects new cases to surface.
Government officials speaking to media on Wednesday estimate that between five and 10 other potential cases have already been detected as part of a broad civil service investigation. However, no “criminal aspect” has yet been confirmed.
As part of these revelations, the government is creating a new Integrity Office, granting new powers to the government to detect and prevent fraud. The government will now be able to “suspend or deregister” a supplier in the absence of criminal prosecution or conviction, or who would have been suspended by another province in the past.
This new office should be set up in May.
Minister Duclos hopes that this new office will send a clear message to subcontractors “who would be tempted” to submit fraudulent invoices. “Now we are able to [détecter] things that we weren’t able to do just a few months ago.”
More details will follow.