Quarter Billion Coverup - Thursday Morning Developments
Posted to Jim Elve's Group Election Blog.
The RCMP, as a result of the AG's report, wants out of the sponsorship probe:
Worried about a potential conflict of interest, the RCMP have asked Quebec's provincial police force, the Surete du Quebec, to take over an ongoing investigation into the federal sponsorship program. (CBC)
The depth of the scandal and the seriousness of it can be heard in the words from former Groupaction VP Alain Richard (all on CTV):
Richard says as soon as he started speaking out about Groupaction's shady accounting and invoicing, he began receiving threats to his safety.
"I'm getting pressure all over the place -- phone calls, anonymous phone calls, letters of anonymous sources -- and nobody is protecting me."
"Who do I talk to? The RCMP? Who do I talk to? Who is protecting me as a taxpayer? Who is protecting the taxpayers across Canada? If we cannot trust our police, cannot trust our government, there's definitely something wrong with the system."
In this morning's questioning of Sheila Fraser in the public accounts committee, the AG said that questions were raised by Public Works auditors but that "rather than addressing the concerns of the auditor, the federal government created a new agency with few or no monitoring systems to handle the $250-million program" (CBC)
These developsoccurringuring as some Liberal MPs have either claimed that Martin knew of the issues 5 years ago (Montreal MP Marlene Jennings) or should have known and acted. (Copps).
The RCMP, as a result of the AG's report, wants out of the sponsorship probe:
Worried about a potential conflict of interest, the RCMP have asked Quebec's provincial police force, the Surete du Quebec, to take over an ongoing investigation into the federal sponsorship program. (CBC)
The depth of the scandal and the seriousness of it can be heard in the words from former Groupaction VP Alain Richard (all on CTV):
Richard says as soon as he started speaking out about Groupaction's shady accounting and invoicing, he began receiving threats to his safety.
"I'm getting pressure all over the place -- phone calls, anonymous phone calls, letters of anonymous sources -- and nobody is protecting me."
"Who do I talk to? The RCMP? Who do I talk to? Who is protecting me as a taxpayer? Who is protecting the taxpayers across Canada? If we cannot trust our police, cannot trust our government, there's definitely something wrong with the system."
In this morning's questioning of Sheila Fraser in the public accounts committee, the AG said that questions were raised by Public Works auditors but that "rather than addressing the concerns of the auditor, the federal government created a new agency with few or no monitoring systems to handle the $250-million program" (CBC)
These developsoccurringuring as some Liberal MPs have either claimed that Martin knew of the issues 5 years ago (Montreal MP Marlene Jennings) or should have known and acted. (Copps).
