The Commission on the Fiasco Saaqclic refuses the status of participant in the ex-boss of the failed project, Karl Malenfant. The former vice-president of the digital experience of the Quebec Automotive Insurance Company will go to the bar of the Commission as a witness, nothing more.
Commissioner Denis Gallant issued this decision on Wednesday and released it on Thursday.
The status of participant would have enabled Karl Malenfant to oppose witnesses. He thus wanted to defend his reputation and “rectify the accuracy of certain facts”, recalls the commission.
Karl Malenfant judges having “significant interest” in the course of the investigation and fears to be “strongly likely to be affected by the upcoming report”, explains Denis Gallant. The former vice-president claimed to want to prevent a “erroneous derogatory portrait from remaining”.
Photo taken from Linkedin
The ex-boss of the Saaqclic project, Karl Malenfant
But the commissioner judges on the contrary that “the applicant is in a normal situation within the framework of a commission of inquiry”. He therefore refuses to grant him the status of participant.
If he reached the request of Karl Malenfant, Denis Gallant believes that he should do so potentially with “dozens of people” whose reputation could also have been marred in the workplace.
Not a criminal trial
Karl Malenfant’s request also aimed to be able to ensure its full and whole defense, not only during the Commission, but also within the framework of the ongoing surveys of the Public Procurement Authority and the Permanent Anti -Corruption Unit (UPAC).
Now Denis Gallant recalls that the principle of a “full and whole defense” applies to an accused person, which is not the case with Karl Malenfant. And even if that was the case, it would be distinct procedures: “This commission of inquiry does not hold a trial,” said J. Gallant.
He also recalls similar decisions rendered in the past, as when the Charbonneau commission had dismissed the request of the ex-liberal organizer Pierre Bibeau, implicated in the illicit financing schemes described during the works.
“The simple fact of witnessing important and relevant elements to the investigation does not entail the right to obtain a status of participant or even speaker. The same goes for the fact that proof refers to a person during a public inquiry, “decided the France Charbonneau and Renaud Lachance commissioners.
According to Denis Gallant, Karl Malenfant will be able to defend his reputation when he is summoned as a witness.
The work of the commission is suspended until August 18.
Wednesday, The press Unveiled the content of a Teams presentation where Karl Malenfant explained before dozens of TI officials of the government that he led the digital transformation project by doing “no plan and documentation”. He also repeated the erroneous information several times mentioned in the government, to the effect that the project would respect the budgets agreed in 2020.
Contacted by The pressthe ex-digital basin at the SAAQ had reserved his comments, recalling that he was still expecting a decision of the commission as to the status he will have when he sits before the Commission. “We would like to file additional evidence,” he said. But we wait. »»
