Posted on 04/06/2005 12:41:59 PM PDT by Deep Throat II
Yet to be discovered, this "UNKNOWN SCANDAL" is certainly a very "Liberal Party of Canada approach" to: Managing International Foreign Aid Funds.
This new scandal has been called by one of those who suffered from this ordeal: "Le scandale du travail au blanc". or "Canadian Diplomats and friends on the take...".
Canada spend more or less two billions dollars a year in international assistance programmes. In some cases, benefits made on the back of the poorest of the world can reach 80% of an assistance project budget providing a very loose project management monitoring from obliging Civil servants.
In the cases described below, the collaboration of young new employees (on a contract basis) dreaming to become full fledge diplomats has been very favourable to the ones who decided to assist former communist countries with Canadian tax payer's money.
Promotions and new jobs were eventually given to the "tender foot" hired to process proposals made by "would be" Executing Agencies who knew what to do or not to do with the $450 millions obtained from tax payers wallets.
After the program raised some suspicion, during summer 1995, it was transferred to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) where project files were disseminated within the CIDA filling system making them more invisible.
A Canadian Executing Agency involved in an assistance program in Central Asia had helped a former Head of state to transfer the National reserves in gold (estimated to US$25 millions) to Switzerland. This scandal has provoked the fall of the entire Government.
During summer 1995, the Canadian Technical Assistance program to former Soviet Union and East European countries was transferred to CIDA, the Canadian International Aid Agency.
On may 9, 1995; a memorandum "Record Conversion - Purge Day, RZP-0460" was sent to all employees asking them to: "purge" old files, remove and "destroy" all unnecessary documents, records, closed projects and duplications papers left behind by employees who have been relocated.
Before the transfer to CIDA, a special training was given to all program's employees (that could be eventually transferred to CIDA too) so they could learnt how to process claims and requests for additional funding. Most of these projects were taking place 12 000 kilometres away from Ottawa. At that time, CDN $200 millions had been spent already without, apparently, much control of the spending. Apparently, very little verification of invoices, if any, and spending was made.
In some cases, it was the newly appointed who wrote the projects or made them acceptable for approval. Those who wanted to change the Communist regime into a very capitalist economy did not know what to do to get funding but the cash was there and it was appealing. Not less than CDN $400 millions was spent in less than two years and a half.
The technique used by the Department in order to facilitate things was the use of Contribution agreements, a practice denounced by the Canadian General auditor. This approach allow to go around the "Call for tender" process which is more fair to interested parties and cost less for tax payers. Canadian Diplomats know about the opinion of the Auditor General. They manage Assistance programmes abroad.
It seems that interested parties knew where to go to get funding in spite of the absence of brochure describing the programme. No criteria to obtain the funding. You ask for it, you get it!
One of the employees who had not spent its entire budget receives a very poor appraisal and made a grievance against his supervisor, which would make the case public. A grievance complaint is a public affair. No audition of the grievance ever took place.
Usually, all documents presented in a grievance process become a public document. In this case, there were apparent irregularities and a number of unusual practices. Making a public case of this situation would have spoiled the beans.
Giving more than $150 000. (from tax payer's money) to a former foreign Prime Minister in order to obtain local partnership is not an every day affair. That was the way to proceed in order to get the CDN $2.3 millions envelope out. The salary of the Prime Minister was $2 000. a year when he was on duty. That "honorarium" as described by the Canadian company was sixty time his former salary.
The Department response to the employee move was harassment. After leaving the employee without a job for many months, the Foreign Affair's Head of the Personal Branch forced the employee to undergo psychiatric examination. The Deputy Director (Personnel Branch) who wrote to Health Canada stated as justification to a psychiatric examination that: "He also suggested that the incompetence on the part of his supervisor may be related to fraudulent motives or misdoing on their part." and "The fact that He finds his management both incompetent and guilty of some sort of misconduct in one situation after another, is not a reasonable behaviour."
The employee who had received a congratulation letter from the head of personal branch two years earlier was now described as a low performance employee.
Forcing an employee to see a “psychiatrist” while he is talking about bribery or mismanagement or fraud attempt is not the usual occidental way. Such practices were usually taking place in USSR where the Deputy Director, and historian, had had an assignment. Calling for the police would have been more appropriate. The Department had indeed some serious and strange business to hide.
His pay check was blocked until he proceeded with the examination. In fact his pay was block three time generating insecurity.
A consultant accepted to replace two Health Canada physicians who had refused to deal with this situation. In fact, the Director of Health Canada left his position in order to avoid getting involved in this case. The consultant was not necessarily a health specialist. He had no shy. He declared the employee "Unfit for the job".
After that meeting, three times, Health Canada refused to name the illness that made the employee unfit for the position blocking access to disability insurances compensations.
In September 1997, the employee met with an investigator from the Canadian Human Right Commission in order to prepare his case. He finally presented a formal complaint for discrimination in relation with perceived psychological problems and discrimination.
The Human Right investigator's task is to assist in presenting a case. He wrote the complaint first page. In his analysis, he, apparently, forgot to read the twenty additional pages describing the situation as a whole and provided by the employee. The file was put aside for almost a year.
Then a consultant was hired by The Canadian Human Right Commission (in September 1998) to pursue the investigation. He wrote the final report. Nothing in his report refers to the exact situations described in the plaintiff's document. The consultant wrote he had met with all the parties but he forgot to meet the plaintiff.
In October 1997, the initial Investigator who had been processing the file made application for a job at the Department of Foreign Affair. In the Canadian Foreign Service, candidates for diplomatic jobs must apply during fall in order to get the job for the following summer. The Human Right Commission investigator did so. He was in conflict of interest during a full year while completing 99% of the documents pertaining to this complaint. Curiously, He did not write the final report.
On August 6, 1998, the employee wrote to the Minister of Foreign Affair to complaint about constant harassment. He received a letter where the Minister wrote that the case was under investigation at the Human Right Commission. Harassment is different from discrimination but who cares?
The initial investigator kept the file almost a year until he was hires in August 1998 to become a full time employee of the Foreign Affair Department and a diplomat.
The complaint was never presented before the Canadian Human Right Tribunal because the whole story would have become public. On January 11, 2000, the Canadian Human Right Commission wrote to the employee that the situation had been corrected and that the case would not be presented to the Tribunal. No corrective measure was ever initiated.
That what one can call a different way of managing Human Right...
Even after having presented his own physician's report stating fitness for employment, he was not given a job. Seven months later, receiving a job offer from the Personnel Branch, he accepted to work, on a loan basis, for a Quebec City Regional Agency responsible for economic development.
His new boss was a very active member of the Quebec Liberal party and a former Provincial Liberal candidate. That person, who was also a former diplomat, gave him the boot two month before the end of his two years contract. The Department of Foreign Affair tried to force him to undergo for a psychiatric examination again. He then resigned from the Foreign Service.
The employee who had been harassed within the department of Foreign Affairs underwent under similar treatment while in his Quebec job. The new Assistant Director at the Personnel Branch in the Foreign Affairs Department was a close friend of the President of the Quebec Agency, he discovered after being transferred.
The Foreign Affair Department asked again the employee him to undergo a psychiatric examination for unknown reason. The employee sent his resignation letter directly to the minister of Foreign Affair in October 2000.
In April 2004, he went to Court to the Quebec City Small Claim Court to sue his last boss for Harassment, a practice prohibited according to the Quebec Human Chart of Right (file 200-32-032933-037). The judge refused to hear the presentation of the context of the situation and managed to hear the case by questioning both parties in spite of the protests of the former employee.
Although the enormous amount of documents presented (including a large number of Ottawa's Foreign Affairs Department documents - now declassified - and letters of protest to the Head of the Canadian Human Right Commission", the judge stated that he could not understand the case.
For those who worry about what happened to Canadian funds spent abroad. You will never know in what pocket that money goes. Don’t even ask for documents, you are loosing you time. The Department of Foreign Affairs refuse to disclose any document that could jeopardise the international reputation of Canada. The Canadian Law on international Affairs allow refusing access to documents which could damage the good reputation of Canada.
The Deputy Minister who supervised the Personal Branch within the Department has been promoted as Head of the Treasury Board Department of the Canadian Government.
Most of the Diplomats involved in this case have been nominated in Paris by former Premier Chrétien. Such an appointment is considered to be the supreme reward for Canadian French speaking diplomats.
But the story really began in Zaire where a number of irregularity and some attempts to divert money from the Canadian Food Aid Program (not less than one million dollars) and other anomalies in more Canadian Foreign Assistance programs took place.
I overheard about an exotic wood mill paid and erected by CIDA at the cost of $60. Millions that was sold for one million dollars. Just before the auction the Zairian Minister of finance had prohibited the export of Wenge. That was the main product from the mill and the Minister knew that his law would cut down the sale value of the mill. Mobotu's son, Nywa was the Minister responsible for Foreign Assistance at that time.
Every one still wonders why Canadian aid fund go in the most corrupted underdeveloped countries.
Certainly, Canadian need to know more about the way Canada and its diplomats are assisting the pours and protecting Human Right.
Foreign assistance to the pours is indeed a very good business for many and a prosperous industry.
On October 31, 2000, the molested employee sent a letter to Canada's Auditor General. Apparently, he did not want to get involved and investigate in what seemed to be a scam in the management of the Technical Assistance Program to former Soviet Union and East European Countries. He responded that his Department had followed normal processes and that he could not call for a Canadian Royal Commission to investigate.
You can always ask for copies of these documents under the Access of information Law. Better to go to the Small Claim Court and read about the saga...
Good luck, we suspect the document have been lost...
Deep Throat II
Just FYI, the category would be "news" and the title would be something along the lines of "New Canadian Gov't Scandal".
Uh...welcome to Free Republic. You might want to watch a while before posting. You seem to have gotten your headline wrong...
Ok, now you're just spamming.
I love you.
You've got the best tagline I've seen in a long time!
uh-oh
Oh, wow! I didn't notice that this was "Breaking News." Sheesh! Now I'm going to have to read this. Where's my tinfoil hat? I know it's here somewhere....
Oh, and mine just sucks.
"Foreign assistance to the pours is indeed a very good business for many and a prosperous industry. "
This is something already on FR, being covered by freedominion.ca and captainquartersblog.com
its posted, i dont know where, but know it is.
Stop that! You'll spoil our fun!
I suppose it would excite "Rainman" but that's about it. :)
Sorry!!
I was reading about this the other day when a friend in Quebec brought it up, so I signed up at freedominion.ca
It's interesting, may cave their Govt as we know it.
Aw, heck! Now you've done it. The thread is in Bloggers/Personal now. It was Breaking News before. Fun's over.
I figured as much. If somebody wants to quit posting, just quit, it's a free country and most of us don't even really care. To me what these people are doing is the height of arrogance and self-centeredness.
Sorry!!
The old title was a lot more fun too!
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