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Trial in military fraud case to begin in May 2019

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Trial in military fraud case to begin in May 2019 Empty Trial in military fraud case to begin in May 2019

Post by Apollo Sat 07 Jul 2018, 6:49 pm


Trial opens for civilian pair charged in $1.3m fraud at CFB Shearwater

Steve Bruce (sbruce@herald.ca)
Published: May 14, 2019



A trial is underway in Halifax for two men charged in an alleged $1.3-million fraud against the Department of National Defence.

Businessman Harold Dawson, 60, and Bry’n Ross, 64, a former civilian contracts officer at 12 Wing Shearwater, both pleaded not guilty Monday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court to one count of fraud over $5,000.

Dawson also pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawfully paying a commission or reward to a government employee, Wayne Langille, a former manager at the heating plant at Shearwater.

Langille, 73, was also supposed to stand trial for fraud but pleaded guilty last month in Halifax provincial court to a new charge of accepting a commission or reward from Dawson without government consent.

Langille will be sentenced later this month.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service announced charges in July 2016, saying they involved “fraudulent purchasing activities” at the Shearwater heating plant.

The alleged offences relate to purchasing activities with four vendor companies contracted to supply parts for the plant between April 2008 and May 2012.

Military police launched an investigation in 2012 after an audit uncovered an alleged $1.3-million fraud.

The trial is set for seven weeks in front of Justice James Chipman, with the Crown expected to call upwards of 50 witnesses.

“There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle,” Crown attorney Mark Donohue said Monday.

In his opening statement, Donohue said Dawson, during the time period in question, ran a business called Atlantic Measuring Technologies Ltd., which supplied parts to institutional operations, including the Shearwater heating plant.

He said Dawson also owned or effectively controlled three other businesses – Colonial Industrial Supply, Harbourside Controls and M.E. Robar Industries Ltd. – whose only apparent customer was the plant.

If the heating plant needed a part, Langille or another plant employee would submit a requisition to Ross requesting that he purchase the part, Donohue told the court.

“Throughout this period, Mr. Dawson and Mr. Langille were friends,” the prosecutor said. “Mr. Dawson and Mr. Ross were friends.

“The Crown alleges that the central story behind this case is that the parties colluded to manipulate the contracting process controlled by Mr. Ross as the buyer for the Shearwater steam plant.”

Donohue said the Crown will present evidence showing Ross awarded more than 640 contracts for parts to Dawson’s businesses between April 2008 and May 2012, and that Langille was the person who requisitioned the parts for more than 440 of those contracts.

“In 2008, 2009 and 2010, no other company won a bidding process and was awarded a contract for parts on which Mr. Dawson’s businesses were bidding,” the Crown attorney said. “In 2011 and 2012, 115 contracts were awarded to the four businesses, but only 17 were awarded to direct competitors.”

Donohue said the case is complex and involves thousands of pages of documents that reveal a “tale of deception.”

“The actions of the parties during the bidding process show an intent to deceive those who might scrutinize the contracting process being conducted by Mr. Ross,” he said.

“These bidding processes were created to make it appear that when more than one bid was required before a contract was awarded, the proper number of bids were sought and received. For the vast majority of contracts on which Mr. Dawson’s related companies bid, only his companies bid.”

Missteps were made along the way and attempts were made to cover them up, Donohue alleged.

He said the Crown will also prove that the prices of certain products were marked up significantly and that more parts than needed were ordered and paid for.

The Crown’s first witness was Mary Ellen Doucet, a retired contract supervisor at Shearwater. She said she was reviewing monthly credit card statements in late 2011 when “things occurred to me that didn’t seem correct.”

Upon further examination of Ross’s files, she noticed that three or four companies had repeatedly been awarded contracts for supplies for the heating plant. After discovering the companies were all linked to Dawson, she contacted her boss and told her she suspected “there was something going on.”








Apollo
Apollo
CF Coordinator

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Join date : 2018-04-14

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