RCMP Watch

Jeff Sallot, Globe & Mail

The RCMP’s chief financial officer, Deputy Commissioner Paul Gauvin, has resigned in the aftermath of the Mountie pension-fund scandal.Mr. Gauvin was criticized in an independent investigator’s report last week for refusing to accept responsibility for problems in the administration of the RCMP pension and insurance plans.

Despite his resignation as chief financial officer, he will remain on the police force’s payroll as a special adviser for major capital projects, the RCMP said in a brief written statement late yesterday.

The statement does not say how long he’ll serve in the advisory post. The RCMP is in the middle of several major capital projects, including relocation to a new headquarters complex in Ottawa.

Mr. Gauvin, who has been chief financial officer for the Mounties for the past eight years, “recognized the findings” of the independent investigator’s report and “has accepted the appropriate level of responsibility and acted accordingly,” the statement said.

In April, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day selected Toronto lawyer David A. Brown to conduct an independent investigation into the pension-fund scandal.

Mr. Brown’s report, released last week, said former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli was an autocratic leader who punished whistle-blowers in the pension-fund case and dragged his feet on launching criminal investigations.

The Brown report also said Mr. Gauvin “has consistently refused to accept accountability for problems exposed in the administration of the pension and insurance plans.”

An RCMP witness told the House public accounts committee this month that Mr. Gauvin intervened inappropriately to try to block the public release of Mr. Zaccardelli’s expense claims, including a $80 shot of cognac.

Mr. Gauvin is a civilian, one of the very few in the history of the force to serve as a deputy commissioner.

He was recruited by the RCMP from the public service eight years ago because the Mounties realized they needed help to put their financial affairs in order, the Brown report says.

“The RCMP was reaching out to a very experienced and highly respected public servant,” the report says. “He is credited with putting the RCMP on a solid financial footing.”

However, he was faulted for lax financial controls in the administration of the pension fund. An internal audit said financial controls did not adhere to RCMP core values, among them “transparency, open competition, fairness, efficiency and economy.”

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser reported last November that the RCMP improperly charged at least $3.4-million to the pension fund, but later paid it back. She also said an estimated $1.3-million was charged to the pension and insurance plans “to pay for commissions or products that provided little or no value, and for excessive payments to employees’ friends and family members hired as temporary staff.”

Yesterday’s statement says Assistant Commissioner Alain Séguin will act as deputy commissioner for finances and corporate management until a permanent replacement for Mr. Gauvin is found.