Public Accounts committee  The report that I took to the commissioner in June 2005 identified areas of misconduct.

Public Accounts committee  Certainly, our investigation indicated that although the criminal standard was not met, the rules were breached. There was serious conduct going around the rules and playing fast and loose within the systems, if I may describe it that way.

Public Accounts committee  I wouldn't say he hired them. He made sure that officers were assigned as required. Typically they came from other divisions and had the expertise and background for this kind of investigation.

Public Accounts committee  I'm not sure I would agree with you that he was choosing. He was facilitating that to be done.

Public Accounts committee  That's correct.

Public Accounts committee  I didn't give that order, but I was aware that there was an issue.

Public Accounts committee  I was briefed on that issue by Inspector Roy, who was the lead investigator from the Ottawa Police Service. I was aware that there were issues. I don't know who gave--

Public Accounts committee  I would know.

Public Accounts committee  There was no conduct there that was chargeable to bring before a court in which people would be convicted of it.

Public Accounts committee  Well, the crown attorney determines, by the threshold used in Ontario, that there is no reasonable prospect of conviction. The police could go ahead and lay a charge, but the Crown, as we have found in the past, is the one responsible for prosecuting it, and if they don't see a reasonable assurance of conviction, they're not going to prosecute it.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, the clock started on the one year when we tabled our report with the RCMP. That's when the commissioner officially became aware of all of the allegations, because our report indicated all of this mismanagement and other information. It was all contained in there, together with the report that the conduct that was uncovered fell short of the criminal standard.

Public Accounts committee  Point taken.

Public Accounts committee  That's correct.

Public Accounts committee  There were about 15 on the team. Full-time, there were two Ottawa Police Service investigators. The rest were RCMP investigators. It became a much larger investigation than was initially intended, and it was through the cooperation and liaison with Assistant Commissioner Gork that other RCMP investigators were assigned from different divisions across the country.

Public Accounts committee  That's correct.