Lawmakers lambasted tech company leaders over their employment with the Department of Defense (DND) during a House committee meeting on Tuesday.
David Yeo, founder and president of Dalian Enterprises, which developed the federal government’s controversial app ArriveCan, was reportedly an employee of DND while the company had a contract with the federal government. Since then, it has been under intense scrutiny.
The city of Dalian told CBC News earlier this month that Yeo, who was only hired by DND in September of this year, had agreed not to be involved in Dalian’s DND project and would benefit from putting the company in a “blind trust.” It said it had taken steps to address conflict concerns. ”
Mr Yeo reiterated those claims to MPs on the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, saying he had “kept his hands off” the company when he became a DND employee. The government said it had suspended Mr Yeo’s employment and that he had since resigned from the ministry.
But lawmakers questioned how far he had been away from the company while working for DND.
Bloc Quebecois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Degagne pointed out that his signature appeared on government contracts signed after he was hired by DND. Mr Yeo said he had “signatures ready” for staff to use on contracts.
“I submitted a signature to the staff so they wouldn’t notice if something happened,” he said.
Dalian is one of the contractors that developed the ArriveCan app. When Yeo appeared before the Government Steering Committee to discuss ArriveCan in October, he identified himself as Dalian’s founder and president. He did not tell members of the committee that he was hired by DND.
“I am an executive on Dalian’s board of directors and maintain all governance related to Dalian. [procurement strategy for Indigenous business] And we will make sure that the company is fully aligned and in step with everything related to procurement and government contracting within the federal government,” he told the committee in October.
Conservative MP Larry Bullock asked Mr Yeo during Tuesday’s committee hearing why he did not disclose that he was employed by DND during his testimony in October.
Yeo responded that he had been invited to the committee as a representative from Dalian and that his testimony had “nothing to do with DND.”
Conservative MP Garnet Genius later asked whether Mr Yeo was still a member of Dalian’s board when he appeared before the committee in October.
“There was no sale at that time because we were working on a sale,” Mr Yeo replied.
“We were in a state of flux during that time.”
Later, in response to a question from Conservative MP John Nater, Mr Yeo said he had met with lawyers in late January about putting the Dalian shares in a blind trust. In retrospect, he said he wished he had started the process sooner.
“I should have done all that before seeing the offer.” [of employment] From the government,” he said.
“That’s my responsibility, but at the end of the day, all the information got to where it needed to go.”
Mr Yeo disputes Auditor-General’s figures
Mr Yeo also said he disagreed with Auditor General Karen Hogan’s recent report that Dalian received $7.9 million for its ArriveCan efforts. He indicated that Dalian received $4.9 million for the project.
Arrivcan’s main contractor, GC Strategies, also questioned Hogan’s report.
Christian Firth, a partner at GC Strategies, told a House of Commons committee last week that Hogan’s report included inflated estimates of the amount the company received for the project because of sloppy government bookkeeping. Stated.
Hogan said in his report that the final cost of ArriveCan was “impossible to determine” because of poor financial record-keeping at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
In response to questions from CBC News, Hogan’s office stood by the estimated $7.9 million the city of Dalian received from ArriveCan.
“Given the deficiencies in CBSA’s financial records, as described in our report, our auditors utilized CBSA’s financial systems, contract documents, and other evidence to develop their estimates.” said the spokesperson.
“Based on this estimate, the costs associated with Dalian Enterprises Inc. were $7.9 million.”
