Sponsorship loss now $355 million, probe finds
CTV.ca News Staff
The total amount of money lost in the sponsorship scandal now appears to be $355 million -- $100 million more than was originally thought.
"If you didn't like the sponsorship program to begin with, you've now got about a hundred million more reasons to not like it," CTV's Jed Kahane told CTV Newsnet on Tuesday.
The new figure of $355 million is from the forensic accounting firm, Kroll Lindquist Avey.
"They have in the past looked for money from such people as Saddam Hussein, the Marcos family, Manuel Noriega -- that sort of thing," Kahane said.
"They're used to looking far and wide for money."
The sponsorship inquiry -- headed up by judge John
Gomery -- was ordered last year, after a report by the federal Auditor General found irregularities in the now-defunct sponsorship program.
The program, established by former prime minister Jean Chretien to promote national unity, wound up paying Liberal-friendly ad firms for little or no work.
Kahane, who is watching the proceedings of the Gomery commission in Montreal, said the total figure is "a lot more money than we thought."
"Up until now, for the past couple of years, we've been talking about $250 million. Kroll and Lindquist says it was $355 million, so a jump of almost 50 per cent."
Kahane also noted that Kroll and Lindquist have produced a 300-page report that shows, in their opinion, how much money was spent and who profited from it.
"For example, the ad firms at the centre of the scandal made $51 million in profits for themselves during the years of the sponsorship program," Kahane reported.
May plead guilty
In other news from the sponsorship inquiry, Paul Coffin, the first person charged in the scandal, has asked that the date of his plea on fraud charges be moved up a week.
Coffin's fraud trial was supposed to begin on June 6. Now he'll enter his plea on May 31, leading to speculation he may plead guilty.
The Crown Prosecutor, Francois Drolet, wouldn't confirm that, but said "the date has not been set for nothing."
In his testimony before the commission in late April, Coffin said the Department of Public Works approved and even encouraged his agency to falsify paperwork and inflate bills for several sponsorship deals, including a 1999 contract to promote the Clarity Act.
Coffin testified his company made nearly $86,500 in commissions from the campaign to promote Jean Chretien's new sovereignty referendum ground rules, even though the work was done by another Liberal-friendly ad agency, Group BCP.
Between 1996 and 2002, Coffin's firm posted $6 million in revenues, of which about $5 million came from government contracts.
Despite the millions in sponsorship contracts received by his company, Coffin insisted he was never pressured to give money to the Liberal party.
The president of Coffin Communication, who is in his 60s, is one of three people facing criminal or civil charges in connection with the sponsorship scandal.
He was arrested in September 2003 on charges relating to 18 federally sponsored events -- ranging from automobile races to festivals -- which took place between 1997 and 2002.
He is scheduled to face trial on June 6.
Also on Tuesday, Alfonso Gagliano has been rebuffed in his bid to help oust Justice John Gomery from the sponsorship inquiry.
A lawyer for the ex-public works minister couldn't persuade a Federal Court judge that Gagliano should be allowed to help remove Gomery.
With files from CTV's Jed Kahane and The Canadian Press
