December 9, 2016
Practical Law Canada Competition has published a new Legal Update, which discusses a recent whistleblower case where a federal employee pleaded guilty to failing to report wrongdoing under the Financial Administration Act. Below is an excerpt with a link to the full Update.
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This Legal Update discusses a recent whistleblower related case, in which a former federal employee pleaded guilty for failing to report wrongdoing under the Financial Administration Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. F-11. This Update discusses this case, relevant legislation and the whistleblowing provisions of the Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34.
Practical Law Canada Competition
In a recent bid-rigging related case, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced on December 2, 2016 that a former federal Library and Archives Canada manager pleaded guilty for failing to report wrongdoing under the Financial Administration Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. F-11 (FAA). See News Release, Public servants who turn a blind eye to wrongful activities will be held accountable, Competition Bureau, December 2, 2016 and Criminal Charges Laid Against a Company and Six Individuals Involved in Bid-rigging Scheme, Competition Bureau, May 2, 2014.
The FAA is legislation that provides for the financial administration of the Federal Government, establishment and maintenance of Federal Government accounts and control of Crown corporations.
In this case, which is the first time that a Bureau bid-rigging investigation has led to FAA charges, the federal employee received a conditional discharge, including 15 months’ probation and 100 hours of community service.
Section 80(1) of the FAA makes it an indictable offence for officers or employees connected to the collection, management or disbursement of public money to, among other things: conspire or collude to defraud the Crown (section 80(1)(b)); make an opportunity for another person to defraud the Crown (section 80(1)(b)); or fail to report in writing any knowledge or information about the violation of the FAA or fraud committed against the Crown to a superior government officer (section 80(1)(e)).
The potential penalties under section 80(1) of the FAA are a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment for up to five years. While rarely invoked in the past, one section 80 FAA case involved a military officer who falsely certified that work for the government had been completed (R. v. Gaudreau, 2008 CarswellNat 1275 (Can. Ct. Martial).
Conviction for certain FAA offences can result in losing the capacity to contract with the Federal Crown, receiving any benefit under a contract between the Crown and another person, or holding Crown office (section 750(3), Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46).
For the full Legal Update, see:
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