Mr. Chairman, again on the basis of the information that is before me at the present time, information that would be drawn from our own internal audit or information that would be drawn from the work of the auditor general thus far, there is no evidence that I am aware of, of fraud or misuse of public funds or criminal intent.
I would say that if and when there are any suspicious circumstances that come to the attention of me or of my officials, we are not only honour bound but indeed under the legal duty to refer those matters to the appropriate police authorities. Those authorities decide quite independently, as should be the case, whether an investigation should be launched and in what direction that investigation should go. The police are totally independent in making those decisions.
I want the hon. gentleman to know that we are pursuing all of these issues in a very assiduous way. I for one want to get to the bottom of any questionable circumstances as rapidly as possible and have the course of justice pursued.