This is what resulted from the first Auditor General's report; undoubtedly, there will be more.
You might want to look at the time involved for one investigation; then question whether proper and timely investigations will be possible -- given what could be seen as inadequate monetary provision for our security forces to do their jobs. Check the budget allocations in the 2004 budget; how much is there for hiring more investigative and other officers? It is very difficult to tell. One might be forced to conclude that the government would prefer that Canadian security and investigative teams be understaffed. Of course, that would be a cynical thought, would it not? NJC
Ottawa — The RCMP is expected to charge a handful of people connected to the sponsorship scandal in coming days, sources say.The file has been in the hands of Crown prosecutor Jacques Dagenais for two weeks, and a final announcement is expected by next week.
Mr. Dagenais has been combing through five boxes of evidence that the RCMP accumulated during a two-year investigation into contracts awarded by Public Works Canada.
In 2002, police started investigating three contracts worth $1.6-million awarded to Groupaction Marketing Inc.
The probe has grown to include millions of dollars in federal deals involving at least two other advertising firms.
According to Myriam Bedard's testimony before the Commons Public Accounts Committee, they're all Groupaction. The RCMP charges are not the end; rather, they will provide some idea of the extent of what needs to be done yet. NJC
[. . . .] Last September, Paul Coffin, president of Montreal-based Communication Coffin, was charged with 18 counts of fraud against the federal government regarding $2-million in allegedly fake invoices submitted to Public Works.
[. . . .] Communication Coffin was a relatively small player in the program, having received about $4-million of the $100-million in sponsorship funding that was funnelled to advertising firms from 1997 to 2003.
[. . . .] The opposition has alleged that the program was used to reward generous donors to the Liberal Party of Canada.
Prime Minister Paul Martin has acknowledged that the program had to function under "political direction," without stating who provided that direction.
Yet Prime Minister Martin knew nothing? A man who was capable of organizing his supporters in the background to negotiate a take-over of the Liberal Party's power at the riding level -- a power used to unseat a Prime Minister? It boggles the mind -- and invites disbelief. NJC
[. . . . ] In addition to the RCMP investigation, a judicial inquiry headed by Mr. Justice John Gomery will try to understand what happened in the sponsorship program. [Mr. Gomery has been on holiday. ]
The inquiry is currently setting up offices in Montreal and Ottawa.
A parliamentary committee is already looking into the sponsorship program, but it is struggling to obtain evidence laying out the involvement of specific individuals in its management.
