Monday, March 08, 2004

Adscam, Continued:

okay, so this thing is going ahead without martin's hands all over it. thank goodness. but near the bottom of the document, is this little doozy of a revelation:

And auditors pointed out that the person awarding the contracts -- at the time Chuck Guite -- was also responsible for signing the cheques, a breach of federal rules.
Both Cutler's complaint and the Ernst & Young audit were kept secret until last month when the Commons public accounts committee stumbled on it while questioning senior bureaucrats.


Okay, so the basic rules of control to prevent abuse were overuled, fine, but how? how is it that a large organization like this had no basic checks and balances? and are Ernst & Young going to be called as well? we'll see. this is the pre-enron era, and accounting rules have stiffened, somewhat...but....

there could be more instances where the peanut counters were not keeping it all together....and being complicit with a less than honest client (the gov)

MPs to hear AdScam insider

By STEPHANIE RUBEC, OTTAWA BUREAU, SUN MEDIA

OTTAWA -- A sponsorship insider who blew the whistle on the blatant mismanagement of the $250-million program in 1996 will tell his story this week as Prime Minister Paul Martin struggles to divert attention away from the AdScam. Veteran public servant Adam Cutler is expected to detail, during an appearance at the Commons public accounts committee probing the AdScam, how he was almost fired for questioning how the sponsorships were doled out.

Cutler has been silent on his role in launching the first internal audit, which was conducted by a private auditing firm, Ernst & Young, instead of Public Works' internal auditing department.

Auditors found the committee that selected the ad firms that handed out lucrative government contracts was picked by the Privy Council Office.

NO CRITERIA

The audit adds that there was no master list of eligible ad firms and no criteria against which the agencies could be rated.

And auditors pointed out that the person awarding the contracts -- at the time Chuck Guite -- was also responsible for signing the cheques, a breach of federal rules.

Both Cutler's complaint and the Ernst & Young audit were kept secret until last month when the Commons public accounts committee stumbled on it while questioning senior bureaucrats.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada protected Cutler from severe repercussions after the 1996 audit, and will support him during his testimony this week.

Ranald Quail, the retired deputy minister who oversaw the sponsorships, denied last week that his department tried to push Cutler out.

Gagliano is expected to appear at the committee March 18 at the earliest with his lawyer.



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