스폰서쉽 스캔달의 비자금 최종 목적지는 전임수상 Jean Chretien의 선거구였다. 몬트리얼 - 월요일 열린 청문회에서, 전임수상 Chretien의 선거구가, 1990년대에 비자금을 사용하여, 스폰서쉽 스캔달에 사용된 490,000 달러의 최종 주요사용처 였음이 증언됐다. Saint- Maurice 선거구로 알려진, 전임 수상 Jean Chretien 의 몇개 선거구에서 행해진 형식상의 행사(Unforeseen events)중, 연방 스폰서쉽 프로그램이 포함된 내용의 서류가 제출됐다. 그행사는 열기구 이용 풍선 띄우기, 카누경기 축제와 Shawanigan-Sud 자동차 그랑프리 경기가 포함되여 있다. 월요일 청문회에서, 당시 공공복지장관으로 스폰서쉽 프로그람을 관장했던, Alfonso Gagliano 씨의 몬트리얼 선거구가 포함된, 이탈리아 동네의 행사에서도 이 자금이 사용됐다고 발표됐다. 청문회에서 변호사 Guy Cournoyer 씨는,수백만 달러에 달하는 계약을 그의 개인 통신관계 회사를 통해 따냈던 전임 공무원 Gilles- Andre Gosselin 에 대한 대질 심문을 하는중, 이자금이 언급됐었다. Gosselin씨의 회사는, 이자금에서 지불된 여러개의 계약금에서 12%의 코미션을 챙겼던 점을 강조하면서, 변호사 Cournoyer씨는, 이돈이 어디로 가게되여 있었는지를 알고 있었는지의 여부를 집중 추궁하면서 "당신이 이와 관련된 행사들을 관장하고 있을때, 스폰서쉽 프로젝트의 대부분이 철저한 보안속에 이루어진 명목상의 행사에서 Gagliano 씨와 Chretien씨의 선거구에 연관되여 있는데, 당신은 이러한 내용을 알고 있었던게 아니였나? "라고 묻자, Gosselin씨는 " 아닙니다. 계약은 하나씩 별도로 이루어졌기에 알지를 못했었고,다만 회계년도 끝에 종합적으로 점검하면서, 실질적으로 그들의 선거구에 집중사용됐음을 알게됐다" 라고 대답했답니다. Gosselin 씨는 스폰서쉽 스캔달로 인해 지금 형사입건되여 기소될 처지에 있는 전 공무원 Chuck Guite씨가 이특별 자금의 핵심 인물이라고 주장했다. Chretien씨와 Gagliano씨는 한결같이 스폰서쉽의 자금이 어떻게 사용되는지에 대한 관여가 없었기에 전연 알지 못한다 라고 청문회에서 주장해 왔읍니다. 좀더 자세한 내용을 알기원하는분은 Globe and Mail 지의 원문을 참고 하시면 좋겠읍니다. 모두가 한통속으로 잘못을 뉘우칠줄 모르고, 권력을 이용, 계속 상대방, 그것도 제일 힘없는 자에게 뒤집에 씌우기에 혈안이 되여 있는 고위 공무원과 수상을 비롯한 정치인들을 한덩이의 고깃덩이를 놓고 서로 으르렁 거리는 맹수떼에 비교해 봅니다. 한마디로 사람의 탈을 쓰고, 자기뱃떼기만을 채우는, 고국의 전임 대통령들과 다를게 없다는 생각을 해 봅니다. 제2의 조국 캐나다의 정치적 앞날이 밝게 보이지가 않는군요. 감사. Ex-PM's riding key destination for sponsorship funds Monday, March 14, 2005 Updated at 7:52 PM EST Montreal — Former prime minister Jean Chrétien's riding was a major destination for money from a $490,000 annual sponsorship slush fund in the 1990s, an inquiry was told Monday. Documents tabled at the inquiry into the federal sponsorship program include several references to sponsorship allotments in the 1990s for “unforeseen events,” including several in Mr. Chrétien's former riding, which used to be known as Saint-Maurice. The events include a hot-air balloon show, a canoe festival and the Grand Prix de Shawinigan-Sud automobile race. The inquiry heard Monday the fund was also used to sponsor Italian community events, including some in the Montreal riding of Alfonso Gagliano, who as public works minister oversaw the sponsorship program. Inquiry lawyer Guy Cournoyer referred to the fund during his questioning of Gilles-André Gosselin, a former bureaucrat who later earned millions in sponsorship contracts through his communications firm. Mr. Gosselin's firm took 12 per cent commissions on a number of contracts paid for from the fund, prompting Mr. Cournoyer to ask whether he knew where most of the money was going. “When you were managing these events, was it apparent to you that a major portion of the sponsored projects under the aegis of unforeseen events was linked to Mr. Gagliano's riding and the riding of Mr. Chrétien?” inquired Mr. Cournoyer. Mr. Gosselin replied: “No, we were not (initially) aware because the contracts came in one by one. But when we compiled our end-of-year summary, in fact there were a lot (in their ridings).” Mr. Gosselin said his point man for the special fund was Chuck Guité, the disgraced bureaucrat who now faces criminal charges in the sponsorship scandal. Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Gagliano have both insisted at the commission they did not control where sponsorship money went. The former executive and the two firms he ran in the 1990s are named in a lawsuit filed last week by the federal government seeking to recoup almost $41-million for alleged transgressions ranging from breach of contract to outright fraud. Justice John Gomery is looking into massive commissions paid to Liberal-friendly advertising firms and other middlemen, including Mr. Gosselin, under the sponsorship program. The $250-million fund was created to increase the federal government's profile, mainly in Quebec, following the 1995 sovereignty referendum. But a scathing Auditor-General's report last year found that several agencies reaped $100-million, often for doing little or no work. Mr. Gosselin, who previously worked with Mr. Guité as a federal bureaucrat in the 1980s, explained Monday how his ex-colleague would provide terse directives whenever sponsorship money was to be funnelled towards so-called unforeseen events. “We regularly received a directive or a list from Mr. Guite's office,” Mr. Gosselin said during two hours of often colourful testimony. “Most of the time it was simply a list with a name and a contact and a telephone number.” Also on Monday, the bureaucrat-turned communications executive admitted he inflated the true size of his company when he applied for sponsorship contracts that later bore him $9.5-million in income. Mr. Gosselin said he wrote on a federal application form that he had an office in Ottawa and access to two-dozen employees, when in fact he hadn't yet moved into the office and only had a handful of staff. “I stretched things a bit,” he acknowledged. “It wasn't kosher.” The application paid off, as Mr. Cournoyer noted Mr. Gosselin received his first sponsorship contract the same day he was approved to work on the file in April 1997. Documents show he earned $8.24-million in honorariums and production costs, not including $1.36-million in commissions, between 1995 and 1999. During the period in question, he ran two firms — Gosselin Communications Stratégiques Inc. and Gosselin Relations Publique Inc. He first made headlines following revelations his communications firm offered an emergency generator to help out during the 1998 ice storm that paralyzed Quebec — then charged the federal government nearly $11,000 for the favour. He has come under fire for personally billing Ottawa for some 3,600 hours of personal work over 12 months, a rate that works out to nearly 10 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Earlier on Monday, the inquiry heard that an executive at another firm blindly signed off on paperwork that led to massive commissions at the company. Former Lafleur Communication vice-president Stephane Guertin told the inquiry he doesn't remember closing a deal related to a television series on hockey great Maurice Richard — a deal that netted a $112,500 commission for the advertising company. A report by the Auditor-General last year found Lafleur Communication, also named in the government lawsuit, took the commission for simply delivering a $750,000 cheque to Via Rail in early 2000.