Evidence of meeting #109 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was dalian.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
No, I didn't sign a.... I signed the offer, but within the offer, they described multiple paragraphs, and one of them had to do with conflict.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Okay. Dalian signed a contract with DND after you became an employee again in fall 2021. This is obviously a conflict of interest. Why did you not feel you were in conflict?
4:15 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
At that time I had my hands off the wheel of Dalian—even before September 19—and that's why I provided my signature to the staff so if there was something going on, I would not even be aware of it. In all honesty, I was not even aware that this smaller contract had even come through until I started reading into this file for our meetings.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
You said there were lots of paragraphs in your contract dealing with conflict of interest. Can you just explain a little bit more about that?
4:15 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
There weren't multiple paragraphs dealing with conflict; there were multiple paragraphs just describing my relationship with DND at it related to the PIPSC union, as it related to health care and a bunch of different things that you would normally have on an offer. However, there was one paragraph in there, for sure, on conflict.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Are you satisfied with your work on ArriveCAN? Do you feel that Canadians got good value for money there?
4:15 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
That's a great question.
As not only a certified high-tech consultant, but also a security specialist certified in many different areas, from purely an IT perspective I believe that the aspect of putting all of that together—getting the coding done, getting it on an AWS landing spot, getting all of the cybersecurity, all of the other health care, PII information that needed to be adjudicated and coded into the application.... Is it fair value? I would have probably booked it in at about $25 million to $30 million with probably a 10% or 15% contingency, which is around the number that it would come in at—around $40 million or $45 million over the three years.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
4:15 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
There are two, actually. I've basically been a PC supporter for a long time, but during the 2021 election period, I did move over to the PPC, and then I moved back to the PC party after that.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to continue with my previous line of questioning.
Mr. Yeo, you don't remember exactly how much money you made from the contracts for ArriveCAN. I can help you remember that. The money may have been deposited in accounts in tax havens.
According to information uncovered by La Presse, you have opened accounts in tax havens in your name twice since 2011.
What's going on here? How much money did you deposit in tax havens, Mr. Yeo?
4:15 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
First of all, La Presse came out with its fake news about my having been an employee of the government for decades. You have to take that for what it's worth.
In reference to that, this goes back to my Afghanistan days. I'll be honest with you. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, before I went to Afghanistan, I was travelling all over the world and basically going to NATO operational planning meetings in Germany and in the U.K.—
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
People don't usually open bank accounts in places they travel to, Mr. Yeo, even if they go there for diplomatic purposes.
4:20 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
Yes, but I was a consultant back then. It gave me an awareness of international.... I'm an entrepreneur first, I'm a soldier second and I'm the owner of Dalian third.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Can you answer the question, please? I'm asking you how much money has been deposited in recognized tax havens.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
You opened accounts, but there is no money in them. In that case, why did you open the accounts?
4:20 p.m.
Business Owner, Dalian Enterprises Inc.
I was getting to that. As an entrepreneur, I am very interested in international business. When I came back from Afghanistan, I looked into trying to understand how to do international business. That's what led to me figuring out how to do an IBC and how to do international bank accounts and things like that.
It was purely an exercise in my own entrepreneurship and trying to figure out stuff. There's no smoking gun there. There's nothing down there.
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné Bloc Terrebonne, QC
Your answer is mind-boggling, Mr. Yeo: To engage in international business, you opened bank accounts in tax havens. Frankly, it is mind-boggling.
I'll move on to other questions.
Let's talk about your affiliation with Mr. Bernier's People's Party of Canada.
You ran as a candidate in 2021. Is that correct?
