MAY 10, 2002 MARTIN DEMANDS GAGLIANO APPEAR BEFORE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE OTTAWA - New Democrat MP Pat Martin is asking the Chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee to clear the Committee’s agenda and undertake an in-depth study and analysis of the Groupaction affair. In a letter to the committee’s chair, Mr. Martin is also recommending former Minister of Public Works, Alphonso Gagliano, be the key witness in Committee hearings examining who broke the rules pertaining to government contracts. “We need to know if there was any political interference in this matter,” Martin says in his letter to Committee Chair John Williams. “Neither the Auditor General nor the RCMP will be able to tell us that.” The Winnipeg Centre MP suggested that because it can call Public Works officials as witnesses, the Public Accounts Committee is the appropriate forum for such an investigation if questions raised this week by the Auditor General are to be answered. “It is up to us to discover if the current or former Minister, or anyone under their direction, ordered these senior Government officials to break the rules in delivering these contracts to Groupaction,” Martin said. -30- For information, please contact: Pat Martin, MP (613) 992-5308 Gail Dugas, Press Secretary (613) 720-6400.
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