A 62-year-old Ottawa man and his company have been charged with fraud following an
RCMP
investigation into allegations of fraudulent overbilling of the federal government.
The federal police force announced two charges of
fraud
over $5,000 against Andrew McDermott and AM Government Consulting Inc. on Thursday, April 23.
A news release from the RCMP said
Public Services and Procurement Canada
launched an investigation in the summer of 2021 into a federal consultant who concurrently worked on Shared Services Canada contracts held by different private-sector contractors reporting to multiple technical authorities.
Evidence indicated that the consultant had submitted fraudulent timesheets resulting in overbilling between May 2020 and June 2022, and PSPC referred the case to the RCMP for a possible criminal investigation, the release added.
The RCMP said the investigation included obtaining statements from prime contractors and examining timesheets for separate contracts. It also alleged the consultant had failed to remit to Canada Revenue Agency the HST he had been collected on those contracts.
McDermott was scheduled to appear in court in Ottawa to face the charges on May 5, the RCMP added.
In a separate statement, PSPC said it had announced on March 20, 2024, that its investigations found three subcontractors were suspected of fraudulently billing on contract work across several federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations.
The statement went on to say PSPC then suspended the security status of the three subcontractors. None currently hold security credentials with the department, it added.
The department referred all three cases to the RCMP, leading to Thursday’s announcement of charges in one of them.
“PSPC is pleased that the RCMP chose to pursue this investigation,” the statement said, adding that Thursday’s announcement “indicates that PSPC is committed to ensuring the continued integrity of Canada’s federal procurement system.”
