Former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli should have acted more swiftly over the mishandling of the Mounties’ pension fund, according to a report released by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
In order to address the serious wrongdoing that occurred during the outsourcing of the administration of the RCMP’s pension and insurance plans, the committee’s report makes 31 recommendations.
The recommendations include: improving procedures for disclosing wrongdoing, tightening the rules for contracting, strengthening the authority of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP and the RCMP ethics advisor, and creating an independent police accountability board.
During its study of the Auditor General’s November 2006 audit, Pension and Insurance Administration—Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts heard from 61 different witnesses over 15 hearings.
It heard allegations of fraud, abuse of authority, contracting irregularities, and harassment by senior members of the RCMP.
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The committee says Zaccardelli and the Mounties’ former chief financial officer, Paul Gauvin, should have acted more swiftly to prevent these abuses and to punish wrongdoers.
It was also disturbed the contradictory evidence provided by many witnesses and says they need to take the issue of providing truthful testimony to parliamentary committees more seriously.
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