A top official from the Department of National Defence (DND) claimed that the CEO of a company involved with ArriveCan continued his role after becoming a public servant, despite him testifying to the contrary a day earlier.
Dalian founder and President David Yeo, who was recently suspended from the DND, told the Public Accounts Committee on March 19 that he had addressed any potential conflict-of-interest concerns by removing himself from his company when he became a government contractor.
“Mr. Yeo shared with this committee that he had taken steps to isolate himself from Dalian. Even if this were true, this would not remove the requirement to disclose his business activities to his employer,” Bill Matthews, deputy minister of the Department of National Defence, testified on March 21.
“We have evidence that Mr. Yeo carried on in his role with Dalian after joining the public service.”
The $59.5 million ArriveCan application was used to check the COVID-19 vaccination status of travellers entering Canada. It has become the centre of a political firestorm in recent months due to its exorbitant costs, and a scathing auditor general’s report that found proper contracting and management practices around the app at several government agencies were not followed.
According to The Globe and Mail, Mr. Yeo’s company has received a total of $91 million in federal contracts since 2015, including $7.9 million for its work on the ArriveCan app.
During Mr. Yeo’s testimony the previous day, he told MPs that after ArriveCan was completed, he joined the DND as a public service employee. Since his role was changing from a contractor providing IT services, he entered into a “confidentiality non-disclosure, no-access agreement” with Dalian, in which he agreed to “refrain from participating in any Dalian proposals, projects, contractors, ventures, or any other activity relating directly or indirectly to the [DND].”
However, MPs on the committee questioned how distant he was from Dalian while employed at the DND. Conservative MP Larry Brock pointed out that during Mr. Yeo’s previous testimony at the committee in October, he made no mention of his role at DND.
Resigned Before DND Interview
Mr. Matthews said after DND became aware that Mr. Yeo was still involved with his company, it launched an internal investigation and placed him on suspension with pay on March 5. While DND was set to interview Mr. Yeo as part of its assessment on March 6, Mr. Yeo submitted his resignation the night before.“It’s a condition of employment to disclose conflict of interest. He agreed with this when he signed his letter of offer,” Mr. Matthews told MPs. “As he was on a probationary period, I would tell you that the natural consequence would have been termination of employment.”
When Mr. Matthews was asked about Mr. Yeo’s comments before the committee that “DND has now made a statement that there was no conflict of interest,” he claimed to not know of the statement. “It is not true,” he said.
When asked by Mr. Barrett if the DND had “widespread” issues with its hiring process, Mr. Matthews said he did not believe so but it was being investigated. “Whether Mr. Yeo had a poor understanding of the rules or is ethically challenged, I will tell you, my experience so far, is he has an ethical issue,” Mr. Matthews said.
Dalian has not returned The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
