RCMP Watch

Kathryn May, CanWest News Service

A senior Mountie told MPs yesterday that suspended deputy commissioner Barbara George asked him to remove a key investigator from the Ottawa police probe into the misuse of the force’s pension and insurance funds.

The testimony yesterday of assistant commissioner Darrell LaFosse contradicted Deputy Commissioner George, who is at the centre of the Commons public accounts probe over accusations she may have misled MPs when she insisted she had nothing to do with the removal of Staff Sergeant Mike Frizzell from the police investigation in June, 2005.

When pressed by MPs, RCMP Commissioner Bev Busson said she also concludes Staff Sgt. Frizzell was removed from the probe based on information she has gathered since initiating a review into what happened, as well as an internal criminal investigation into Deputy Commissioner George’s conduct.

“My understanding from what I know so far [is that] Staff Sgt. Frizzell was removed,” Commissioner Busson testified yesterday.

She said she was deeply “disappointed” to see RCMP employees sitting side by side at the hearings, trading accusations in such a public way.

“That’s not the way it happens in the RCMP,” she said.

She said the pension fiasco was a “conflict of individuals” that was poorly handled by senior management and should have been dealt with before escalating into a crisis that’s blackening the image of the RCMP.

She said she is seeking a legal opinion on whether disciplinary action can still be pursued. RCMP policy limits disciplinary action to within one year of an alleged infraction.

Yesterday, Mr. LaFosse, the supervisor who loaned Staff Sgt. Frizzell to the investigation, said he received a call in June 2005 from an obviously upset Deputy Commissioner George who wanted Staff Sgt. Frizzell “removed from his duties” because of his behaviour.

Commissioner George had previously testified Staff Sgt. Frizzell was harassing, aggressive and brought witnesses to tears when he interviewed them.

Mr. LaFosse said he told her couldn’t remove Staff Sgt. Frizzell because he wasn’t working for him and directed her to assistant commissioners Bruce Rogerson or David Gork, who was the RCMP’s liaison on the Ottawa investigation.

He also told MPs he was surprised when he read the transcripts of Deputy Commissioner George’s Feb. 21 testimony when she insisted she had no hand in the investigator’s removal.

He said he ran into Chief Supt. Fraser Macaulay, who was moved to National Defence after raising concerns about the pension fund and “rhetorically (asked) ‘Why did she lie?’”

Deputy Commissioner George has strongly denied any wrongdoing. She is suspended from duty pending an internal and criminal investigation into her conduct — probes she is challenging in Federal Court.

She has testified she did not order Staff Sgt. Frizzell’s removal. She said the order was issued by Mr. Gork in consultation with the inspector who led the Ottawa investigation.

The Ottawa police investigation began to probe the misuse of pension funds, but the trail of documents led investigators to questionable transactions charged to the $30-million account.

Staff Sgt. Frizzell has testified he believes he was pulled from the investigation because he found evidence Deputy Commissioner George was responsible for improperly transferring nearly $600,000 from the force’s insurance plan.

The mishandling of the pension fund recently erupted into a full-blown crisis when a handful of RCMP officers stunned MPs with allegations of corruption and coverup reaching into the Mounties’ highest ranks.

The scandal, currently being examined by the parliamentary committee, has already been at the centre of an internal audit, a criminal investigation and a report by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser.

All found wrongdoing, but one was charged, fired or disciplined.

In her report, Ms. Fraser found the RCMP repaid $3.4-million to the pension plan that was improperly charged.

She also found the RCMP spent $1.3- million from the pension and insurance accounts on work of little value and made “excessive payments” to families and friends.

The Harper government has appointed David Brown, former head of the Ontario Securities Commission, to conduct an independent inquiry into the program and deliver a report by mid-June.