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Live | Fiasco Saaqclic: A whistleblower informed Liberal ministers Laurent Lessard and Pierre Moreau of Karl Malenfant’s interest conflicts

A whistleblower informed Liberal ministers Laurent Lessard and Pierre Moreau of conflicts of interest involving the IT boss of the SAAQ, Karl Malenfant, in the management of contracts of the Saaqclic project. As of 2017, this ex-CAQ candidate warned the Couillard government against the risks of slippage linked to this project.

The commission of inquiry on the SAAQCLIC fiasco resumed its public audiences on Monday morning in Montreal, after a two -month break.

Malt management of contracts, conflicts of interest, ethical failures and doubtful loyalty to the State: a manager of the SAAQ, Pascale St-Hilaire, sent a letter on March 13, 2017 to the president of the Treasury Board, Pierre Moreau, as well as to the Minister of Transport of the time, Laurent Lessard. This letter was presented to the Gallant Commission.

At that time, the SAAQ was preparing to sign a contract with the SAP-LGS alliance.



Screenshot | Cesis

In his missive, Mme St-Hilaire, then Director General of Planning and Performance (DGPP) at SAAQ, alerts ministers to “a problematic situation concerning the management of contracts in IT services”.

She directly points to the former IT boss, Karl Malenfant.

“M. Malenfant asked me to perform certain questionable actions relating to contractual management, ”she writes. “He grants contracts to the R3D firm, where he previously held the post of vice-president. This firm is informed in advance of future contracts, because it collaborates with it on all anticipated strategic mandates. ”

In disagreement with his superior, Mme St-Hilaire was thanked by senior management. She was a volunteer for Caquist Minister Jonatan Julien and was a candidate in 2022 in the Taschereau riding for the training of François Legault.

Laurent Lessard claims to have followed up with the chairman of the Treasury Board and the CEO of SAAQ, Nathalie Tremblay. He specifies that they were allegations and that he had asked his CEO to carry out checks, as he mentioned under oath. The authority of public procurement did not yet exist at the time, but the UPAC could have taken up the file, he said.

A few months later, in June 2017, the SAAQ signed the $ 458 million contract with the Alliance. An amount that “was big enough to scare me,” said Laurent Lessard. However, he reached the authorization of the Treasury Board.

“Personally, I did not have this letter of this letter,” said deputy André Fortin who was appointed Minister of Transport in October 2017. The one who was in post until the 2018 election began his testimony to the Gallant Commissioner at the end of the morning.

Malenfant criticizes the general auditor

For his part, the former big boss of the IT of the SAAQ maintains that Saaqclic is “not a fiasco” and that the auditor general of Quebec (VGQ) was mistaken by saying that the project would exceed one billion dollars.

Karl Malenfant, architect of the Saaqclic project, took advantage of the resumption of the work of the Gallant Commission to defend itself again on the LinkedIn social network.

In a long declaration of seven pages, he tries to explain the increase in the costs of the project. According to him, the allegations of the VGQ in his overwhelming report are wrong.

“In its paintings, the VGQ has counted maintenance costs as if they were part of the construction costs. However, Casa, it’s like a house: the construction cost (the project) is an investment, and maintenance costs are current annual expenses, “he argues.

“By adding the two, it gives the impression that the project cost more than it really was. For what? She should come and explain it to us! “

However, he recognizes that “the deployment of the project was difficult” and that there was “failures”.

Upcoming testimonies

In addition, political employees and ministers will be called upon to testify in the coming weeks before the Gallant Commission to explain their involvement in the Saaqclic project, in particular the Ministers Geneviève Guilbault and François Bonnardel.

The Commission confirmed that the representatives of the SAP-LGS Alliance, the firms that won the contract, will testify.

Surprising revelations of the whistleblower and ex-CAQ CAQ



“Karl Malenfant has repeatedly denied the authorities such as the SCT, the CSPQ and its superiors to the SAAQ (…) In addition, it allowed itself, at the end of June, in early July 2016, to say, before the holding of a management committee, that a” political putch “would be done and prepared against the government in place (we will complain about them)”

“In February and March 2016, he [Karl Malenfant] requires opening the three (3) submissions of the SAAQ overhaul project, before the deadline provided for this purpose ”

«Il [Karl Malenfant] claims that he will become the future president of the Saaq and he says he is favored by the authorities concerned ”

“Malenfant grants contracts to the R3D firm, a firm where he was previously vice-president. This firm knows in advance the contracts to come because it works with it for all anticipated strategic mandates. ”

See the public audiences broadcast live to LCN above.

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