Fraudulent taxpayer loans masquerading as pandemic relief is now subject to police investigations, according to media reports.

Export Development Canada (EDC), a Crown bank, ran a pandemic relief program in 2020 to subsidize government shutdowns. Managers identified 17 questionable borrowers in 2022, reported Blacklock’s.

“Referrals to the RCMP were made on August 4, 2022,” reads EDC submissions to the Commons public accounts committee. 

Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, who sat on the WEF Board of Trustees alongside Freeland, has received a steady upswing in federal contracts since 2017.

MORE: https://t.co/l7eI0tpnx3 pic.twitter.com/mRgwC0zE7P

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) December 9, 2024

The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program, which paid interest free loans of $60,000 to eligible enterprises, erroneously gave $3.5 billion to 51,000 businesses.

Halverson, now Assistant Commissioner at the Canada Revenue Agency, earlier said that misallocated loans would not exceed 10% of applicants but has yet to testify on the scathing audit of the program.

A December 2 report Canada Emergency Business Account revealed gross mismanagement of the program. “They really did fail,” testified Auditor General Karen Hogan.

Cabinet assigned EDC oversight of the program, records show, despite lacking the budget or expertise to carry it out competently.

Liberal MP Brenda Shanahan loses her marbles and calls efforts to investigate her Liberal Party's astronomical levels of corruption "convoluted conspiracy theories."

What a joke. The lady doth protest too much, methinks. pic.twitter.com/NpPtFHwCJr

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) August 8, 2024

EDC told the Commons committee that early borrowers were not required to prove they were qualified before receiving taxpayers’ loans. “Applications were funded based on businesses attesting to meet the payroll criteria,” wrote management.

Subsidiaries of Accenture PLC, a Brazilian contractor that worked on the program for the Crown bank, went on to overbill taxpayers to the tune of $209 million. Horgan's report documented excessive fee charges, including billable hours up to $750 per hour and invoices for unworked hours. In another instance, a Brazilian call center handling 1-800 inquiries from Canadian borrowers was also significantly over budget, costing $23.2 million instead of the planned $2.78 million.

MPs have yet to identify the bureaucrats responsible, with the EDC refusing to oust Department of Finance officials.

“Accenture, Export Development Canada and the Department of Finance met frequently,” wrote management. They maintained contact with personnel “from the financial sector policy branch up to the associate assistant deputy minister.”

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