[. . . . ] In a letter to HP dated two days ago, David Marshall, deputy minister of Public Works, wrote that the government had paid the company for work from six subcontractors, which did not have a contractual relationship with HP. Lawyers for one of the subcontractors told auditors as part of an investigation, that it did not offer any services to the government, the letter said.

"HP has indicated that invoices submitted to it by the six third parties resulted specifically in HP billings to DND of $159,449,569," Mr. Marshall wrote.

[. . . . ] "HP's investigation has, thus far, revealed the potential that an employee of DND and others unknown to HP engaged in fraudulent activity" [. . . ]

A team of internal auditors at Public Works first identified problems with the contract, including deficiencies related to cost accounting, time recording and contract administration. A source said yesterday that the fired employee "exceeded his authority in terms of contracting and in terms of expenditures."

The information was passed on to DND in April of 2003, which hired Pricewaterhouse-Coopers to conduct a forensic audit, which is continuing. The RCMP was also called in to investigate.

[. . . . ] "It is unbelievable when we look at some of the facts and the details here, it goes through every single department in the government. Hundreds of millions of dollars out of DND went missing in action when the Prime Minister was in fact the finance minister. We have no idea whether this DND computer scandal is the end or if it is just the beginning. I think we have uncovered only the tip of the iceberg," she said.

The contract to provide software, hardware and computer services to DND was originally awarded to Compaq Canada in 1991. It was transferred to HP after its acquisition of Compaq.

HP said it was kept out of the loop as it hired subcontractors at the request of DND.

"DND's instructions to HP were to process invoices for these suppliers, although the nature of the work being performed was, in many instances, never disclosed by DND. Despite repeated HP requests for particulars of the work to be provided, DND informed HP that the work was confidential and that, in the interest of national security, HP was not entitled to this information," Mr. Ireland said.

A federal official rejected the notion that the problems were located solely within the government.

"It could not have been done solely by one person at National Defence," the source said.

[. . . Plausible] deniability isn't working for Prime Minister Paul Martin. The most important reason: It is decidedly un-prime-ministerial, the mirror image of the kind of person we don't want for a national leader. We hope the highest post in the land will be held by someone with an unimpeachable sense of personal honour.

. . . someone in that most important office [PM] who actually seeks out problems, who demands of those around him that he know everything. Why? So he can provide genuine leadership and make the country better.

But the other reason Martin now faces the serious problem of implausible deniability is that he has simply used it too many times. It is meant to be used judiciously. It is precisely that rare usage that makes "not knowing" plausible. Make a habit of it and suddenly it becomes a fatal flaw.

The sponsorship scandal is, for Martin, the denial that reached implausible critical mass. Almost no one believes he "didn't know" because, well, it's unbelievable.

This is a group, recall, whose last full annual lobbying day on Parliament Hill in 1998 resembled a freak show. Members visited MP's and harangued them in their offices. When other MPs agreed to attend a NAC briefing, they were booed and hissed and shouted at by the feminists in attendance. Is this how Canadians want their tax dollars spent?

[. . . .] The government's poor record of dealing with suspected war criminals living in Canada is undermining Ottawa's much-touted leadership [a joke?] on the world stage in pushing for tough treatment of war criminals, a growing number of critics say.

[. . . .] In January, Irwin Cotler, the new Minister of Justice, said one of his main priorities is to push for those suspected of committing wartime atrocities who are living in Canada to be brought to justice.

[. . . .] A total of 445 people were denied entry into Canada in the 2001-2002 fiscal year on suspicions of complicity in war crimes or crimes against humanity or because they were senior members of regimes engaged in terrorism or gross human rights violations.

That is one quarter of the applicants who were investigated.

In the first five years of the War Crimes Program, 2,011 people have been denied entry to Canada over war-crime suspicion. There were only 34 turned away in the 1997-1998 fiscal year, when the numbers were first tracked, government records show.

The government's own internal reports have warned that a failure to make use of its 3 1/2-year-old War Crimes Act is eroding its credibility.

[. . . .] "There are a number of cases in preparation which may result in prosecution at some point in the reasonably near future," a 2001 government report said.

The RCMP has investigated modern-day war-crime allegations against citizens of at least 22 nations -- including Afghanistan, Bosnia, China, Croatia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Lebanon, Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

[. . . .] His officers have travelled extensively to countries where atrocities have taken place, scouring for witnesses and other evidence to make a compelling case.

[. . . .] Several cases have been assembled by the RCMP and sent to the Department of Justice; so far none have been given the approval by the Attorney-General needed to lay a charge."We're still waiting for it. We're still optimistic," Supt. Dube said.

Terry Beitner, director and general counsel of the Department of Justice's War Crimes Unit, said the cases are difficult to prosecute.

"These are cases that have extremely serious allegations against individuals in Canada who have been involved in atrocities in other countries," he said. "We're talking about genocide, brutal war crimes, torture."

"It is difficult work. You have to obtain evidence overseas, it is complicated to arrange co-operation from foreign governments, the nature of the allegations are complex. We are dealing with the application of international criminal law and Canadian criminal law," Mr. Beitner said.

[. . . .] "The immigration response brings either an injustice or no justice," he said.

[. . . .] The majority of contemporary war criminals arrive as refugee claimants, the government says.

"Many in this group have been able to bypass the overseas screening process by travelling to Canada with fraudulent or improperly obtained travel documents, often posing as persons from countries whose citizens do not require a visa to visit Canada"

The beatings . . . threats of imminent death.. . . real torture, said Ahmed Abdulkadir Aden, recounting his treatment at the hands of rival clans in Somalia, his troubled homeland.

. . . hog-tied, beaten with steel rods and left in the hot sun for hours on end. Then there was the day he was tied up in a sack and dumped into the sea -- to be hauled out just in time to prevent drowning.

During the nights, Mr. Aden, along with nearly two dozen fellow prisoners . . . dug a tunnel to freedom, he said. He then fled to Toronto, where his wife had already been accepted as a refugee.

His ordeal in 1991, as his homeland was consumed by the anarchy that followed the overthrow of the regime of Siad Barre, Somalia's military dictator, is outlined in detail in Mr. Aden's claim for refugee status, made in Toronto in 1994.

The trouble is, what Mr. Aden describes to Canadian authorities with substantively less precision is his own involvement in the Red Berets, a notorious security force that "unleashed a reign of terror" on Barre's opponents, according to an Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) decision.

The Red Berets earned the hatred of the populace from having engaged in a number of crimes against humanity -- including a massacre of civilians at a soccer stadium, the abduction of young girls as "temporary wives" and the indiscriminate killing of peaceful demonstrators.

An IRB panel outlined Mr. Aden's own alleged war crimes and ordered him deported.

He never showed up to be flown home, however, and has since vanished. His name is one of 62 alleged or suspected war criminals wanted by Canadian authorities for their suspected involvement in war crimes or crimes against humanity, obtained by the National Post.

At least nine of them are Somalis suspected of complicity in crimes against humanity. Barre's government is designated by Canada as a regime that engaged in systematic human rights abuses, one of eight so designated, allowing immigration officials the legal grounds to bar the regime's officials from entering Canada.

[. . . .] "I was employed by the military police as a guard [. . . . ] "I was never involved in any combat or security operations, other than as a guard, first at a Military Police camp and later at the parliament buildings."

[. . . .] It was only under questioning that Mr. Aden admitted he carried an AK-47 assault rifle . . . never used it.. . . never involved in repressive measures against civilians and was not personally involved in any atrocities.

The IRB says the Red Berets were "a dreaded elite unit from among the president's Marehan clansmen.... Faced with the shrinking popularity and armed and organized domestic resistance, Siad Barre unleashed a reign of terror against [rivals], carried out by the Red Berets."

[. . . .] "The claimant's testimony that he was able to resign from the Red Berets in December, 1990, was utterly incredible. At this time, Siad Barre's government was mobilizing all his forces to face the imminent assault from [opponents], and as such, the panel finds it implausible that any member of the army or the Red Berets will even get a holiday, let alone the acceptance of a resignation," the decisions said.

"The claimant was not an ordinary soldier in the Somalian army; he was a member of the Red Berets, a unit known to have perpetrated brutal crimes against humanity in Somalia. He joined voluntarily," it said.

"The claimant had the knowledge of, and the complicits in, the Red Berets and their crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Siad Barre regime."

Federal officials are reconsidering a decision made in the final days of the Chretien government that prevents Canadians from knowing the identities of war criminals who went missing in this country [. . . .]

Two officials say work is under way again to ask Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan, Mr. Coderre's replacement on the file, to reverse that decision. [. . . .]

Under Canadian law, those complicit in war crimes or crimes against humanity are supposed to be deported to their homelands. But dozens of known and suspected war criminals were never deported and are wanted for arrest. The latest figures provided by the government show 75 war crimes suspects missing across Canada as of March 31, 2003.

[. . . .] The Post had argued that the names and photographs of war crimes fugitives missing in Canada should be released as a matter of public interest, the same way that police issue wanted posters, but Mr. Coderre said that would violate privacy rights.

[. . . .] Last summer, Bob Runciman, then Ontario's minister of public safety, and Julian Fantino, Toronto's Chief of Police, complained Ottawa was wrong to protect the identities of war criminals.

They wrote to Mr. Coderre, accusing his ministry of ''an unfathomable lack of co-operation'' and running a ''seriously flawed system'' that prevented even police from knowing the identities of war criminals missing in Canada. Police now have access to the list.

Mr. Coderre responded that the security of Canadians had to be balanced against "the rights of an accused to a fair hearing, or our adherence to the presumption of innocence."

[. . . . ] A memo later went to Mr. Coderre. A censored copy was released to the Post. In it, advisors seemed to favour releasing the names, noting Canada should not become a "safe haven for those individuals who have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity or any other reprehensible act during times of conflict.

Ottawa — The government is trying to find out what happened to a federal sponsorship grant that was supposed to aid the famed Bluenose II schooner, but apparently never arrived.
"We're tracing funds that may have gone adrift, and we will be getting them back," Public Works Minister Stephen Owen told the Commons on Monday.

At issue is a $2.3-million cheque that was directed to the Bluenose through Lafleur Communications, a Montreal ad agency that played a key role in the now-disgraced sponsorship program.

The trust that oversees the schooner — a major tourist attraction in Nova Scotia — says it received only $359,000.

[. . . .] The Mounties are already investigating 18 other deals linked to the sponsorship program. In addition, Ottawa has launched civil actions in about a dozen cases to recover money that was mishandled.

[. . . .] Privy Council president Denis Coderre [is] facing questions about his links to advertising executive Claude Boulay of Groupe Everest, yet another Montreal firm.

[. . . .] Everest later won a lucrative contract with the Heritage Department [Sheila Copps was the Minister of Heritage.], where Coderre then served as junior minister for amateur sport.

[. . . .] Government records refer to some $3.3-million supposedly earmarked for the schooner, with the $2.3-million that went through Lafleur making up the largest chunk.

[. . . .] Moore has admitted talking about the sponsorship program with Chuck Guite, a former public servant whose role in the scandal was highlighted by the auditor general.

OTTAWA - At least $2-million in public money intended for the Bluenose, Canada's most famous sailing ship, has disappeared through the scandal-plagued sponsorship program, Public Works Minister Stephen Owen admitted yesterday.

[. . . .] Records from Public Works show the Bluenose trust was granted $2.3-million in 1997-98 through the sponsorship program. The way the program normally worked, Lafleur would take a commission -- typically between 12% and 15% -- and pass the rest on to the Bluenose trust.

But records filed by the trust with the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency in 1997-98 indicate the Bluenose II received only $294,389 from the federal government that year. That leaves about $2-million missing.

[. . . .] In 1996, the charity received $359,000 from the federal sponsorship program, Mr. Moore told The Chronicle Herald in Halifax. But Public Works' official records of the program only begin in the 1997-98 fiscal year.

Mr. Moore has admitted talking about the sponsorship program with Chuck Guite [. . . .]

In 1997-98, in addition to the $2.3-million contract, two other contracts worth more than $500,000 were granted under the heading "Bluenose" by the sponsorship program. Yet the total in federal government grants declared by the Bluenose charity that year is less than $300,000.

In 1998-99, Public Works records show $360,618 in grants associated with the Bluenose II, funnelled through the communications companies Lafleur and Gosselin. But the charity lists no federal government funding in its annual tax declaration.

In 2000-01 and 2001-02, the charity similarly lists no federal government funding. However, records from Communications Canada, which took over the sponsorship program in 2000, reveal the Bluenose trust got two grants during that time, one for $100,000 and one for $50,000.

Tony Blom, president of the advertising company Compass Communications, said his firm worked on those two contracts, earning a 12% commission for helping to organize events and promote the Bluenose as it toured East Coast ports.

Ottawa — [. . . .] John Williams, chairman of the panel that has been investigating the sponsorship scandal, said Canadians can't sit quietly back and watch Mr. Guité, who is out of the country, [. . . . "thumbing] their nose at the Parliament of Canada," Mr. Williams, the public accounts committee chairman, said outside the House of Commons.

The Conservative MP suggested that his committee could issue a subpoena to get Mr. Guité to appear, or Canada Customs could even arrest him if and when he returns to Canada.

[. . . . He] acknowledged that the committee can do little if Mr. Guité remains permanently outside Canadian borders.

[. . . . ] Pierre Tremblay, the former executive director of the sponsorship program, is reported to be so ill that it is unclear whether he understood what was happening a month ago when he was given the Auditor-General's scathing report and asked to respond to its allegations.

[. . . . ] Ran Quail, a former deputy minister of Public Works, said last week that there was a "very direct relationship" between Mr. Guité and Mr. Gagliano.

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser also said that Mr. Guité was in charge of the daily management of the program from 1997 to 1999, but that Mr. Gagliano's office had the power to overturn decisions on specific sponsorship funding.

[. . . .] "It seems that he was doing everything, one person had all the powers," Mr. Gagliano told CTV News.

When Mr. Guité first appeared before the public accounts committee in 2002, he refused to reveal the content of any of his discussions that took place with Mr. Gagliano.

"He was quite specific that he wouldn't answer questions that had anything to do with dealings with ministers," New Democrat MP Pat Martin said after the meeting. "He said it was part of his loyalty to his former employers."

OTTAWA - Conservative MP Chuck Cadman, who entered politics to reform the justice system after his son's murder, said yesterday he expects to lose his party's nomination to a neophyte.

Jasbir Cheema, [who joined the CPC in January, 2004] a film producer and broadcaster, has in six weeks signed up 1,500 members in the B.C. riding of Surrey North -- or roughly five times the number of members loyal to Mr. Cadman.

Both men acknowledge the result of the nomination meeting, which hasn't been scheduled, appears a foregone conclusion.

Mr. Cadman said he fears he is a victim to the recruitment of "instant" party members, the vast majority of them Indo-Canadian.

"I've talked to NDP, to backbench Liberals and they've all seen the same phenomenon going on, and everybody's extremely concerned about people joining up, having to be members for two or three weeks before a nomination, which effectively determines who the candidate is going to be," said Mr. Cadman, 56.

[. . . .] Mr. Cadman became one of Canada's leading voices for victims' rights in the 1990s [after his son's death] and has campaigned for tougher youth justice laws.

Mr. Cheema, 45, immigrated from India to Canada in 1982 and until recently, lived in Vancouver before moving to Delta, B.C., in November. He said he'd never been a member of a political party before he joined the Conservatives in early January.

He said every single member he signed up is prepared to sign an affidavit saying they joined on their own free will and paid the $10. Mr. Cheema's campaign spokesman, Kareem Allam, said the campaign was run cleanly and all members had to pay their own way.

[. . . .] Riding president Ken Caley said Cadman supporters telephoned 143 new Conservatives on the membership list, of which 43 said they weren't members, three said they didn't know, and two said they were members, but weren't sure to which party they belonged .

Four of the phone numbers on the list were out of service and two were long-distance numbers, according to Mr. Caley, a Cadman backer.