A reputable Montreal firm that corrupted authorities in the Philippines to win vital government contracts there will pay $10.5 million in fines to continue doing business with Ottawa and Quebec.
Bribery of Filipino elected officials, dubious commissions paid to foreign sales agents, bloated public contracts to fund bribes. For 12 years, Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology Inc. (UEFTI), based in the Saint-Laurent neighborhood of Montreal, has multiplied illegal maneuvers in the Southeast Asian country of 111 million people.
Founded by Montreal native Robert Walsh, this company markets a ballistic identification system, IBIS, to help law enforcement solve firearm crimes.
It has 250 employees and does business with the governments of Quebec, Canada and many countries around the world.
Since last September, she has faced two counts of foreign bribery and one count of fraud in connection with its activities in the Philippines. Ironically, it was the RCMP who conducted the investigation while using technology from the Montreal company.
Photo taken from Ronaldo Villanueva Puno’s LinkedIn page
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010.
Secret Negotiations
But in recent weeks, UEFTI has quietly become the second company, after SNC-Lavalin, to benefit from a redress agreement with the Canadian courts.
This new provision of the Criminal Code, which has been in force since September 2018, applies in cases of economic crimes such as corruption and fraud. It allows the Crown to invite an accused company to negotiate payment of a fine instead of going to court.
The UEFTI will therefore pay a little over $10.5 million in total to the governments of Canada and Quebec, but may continue to receive public contracts that would have been stripped of it had it been found guilty at the end of a trial.
The agreement, sealed by Supreme Court Justice Marc David, was negotiated in secret, with certain details still subject to a publication ban.
“Behaviour and Offenses [commises par UEFTI] are serious and deserve a severe sentence,” the judge said in his decision.
Nevertheless, the magistrate considers it desirable that the law firm can continue to receive public contracts, as it has shown “exemplary cooperation” with the authorities during the investigations.
“UEFTI has expressed its desire to change its corporate culture and comply with anti-corruption laws,” he writes.
Photo from the UEFTI website
Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology Inc. distributes a sophisticated ballistic detection system to police forces in many countries.
Four ex-managers charged
However, four former executives at the firm, including former big boss Robert Walsh, still face individual charges of corruption and fraud.
In May 2022, SNC-Lavalin agreed to pay nearly $30 million to avoid criminal prosecution. She was accused of paying $2.23 million in bribes to secure a $128 million contract to refurbish the Jacques Cartier Bridge in the early 2000s.
The company said this would allow it to “continue its operations and protect the jobs of its more than 30,000 employees while safeguarding the interests of its customers, investors and other stakeholders.”
– With the collaboration of Nicolas Brasseur and Philippe Langlois
Elected officials lined their pockets
In order to secure government contracts in the Philippines, the Montreal firm UEFTI has greased the hands of high-ranking officials in the Philippine state apparatus.
The company sensed a business opportunity when the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced in the late 1990s that they wanted to equip themselves with an electronic ballistic detection system for their criminal investigations.
It took more than a decade for the UEFTI’s bribes to bear fruit.
They allowed him to complete three-phase deals that netted him around $17 million from March 2010 to April 2017.
Influence
The Montreal company initially required the services of sales agents based in the Philippines who could use their government contacts to obtain the contracts.
“Part of the strategy was to pay bribes to senior government officials and falsify records to cover up those payments,” Judge Marc David wrote.
The sales representatives paid part of the bribes and kept other sums for themselves.
Of the $4.4 million they received, some of the money went to corruption and some to legitimate services. In what ratio? The RCMP never wanted to report.
However, the indemnity agreement ratified by all parties stipulates that 75% of this sum, or $3.3 million, is the value of the proceeds of the crime.
The names of the allegedly bribed Filipino politicians are currently subject to a court ban on publication.
A country where bribery is rampant
According to a Southeast Asia risk analyst, a company looking to do business with law enforcement in the Philippines is entering a world where bribes are commonplace.
Expert Stephen Norris signed an affidavit in court on Oct. 25 describing what he calls “endemic corruption in the Philippine National Police.”
“Corruption and misconduct are rampant in the Philippine National Police. Police chiefs from different administrations have been involved in major corruption scandals involving millions and even billions of Philippine pesos,” he describes.
One million Philippine pesos is worth about 23,000 Canadian dollars.
“revolving doors”
The expert explains that since ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power between 2001 and 2010, there has been a policy of “revolving doors” in the management of the national police in the Philippines.
“Police chiefs are often appointed for short periods as a reward for their loyalty. Corruption is therefore rife given the nature of these appointments,” analyzes Mr Norris, who points out that the last six national police chiefs have served less than a year.
Not to mention the many cases of human rights abuses, torture and arbitrary detention in the Philippines, adds Stephen Norris.
Four ex-leaders still charged
Robert Walsch
Photo from Concordia University website
Founder and President of the company until 2014
Rene Belanger
Successor to Mr. Walsh as Chairman until mid-2017
Timothy Heaney
Photo from Timothy Heaney’s Facebook
Former Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Michael McLean
Photo is from Michael McLean’s RocketReach page
Former Sales Manager
What is IBIS technology
Photo from the UEFTI website
Photo from the UEFTI website
- Developed by Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology
- Sophisticated cameras examine projectiles and casings confiscated from a crime scene.
- Thanks to powerful computers, these images are automatically compared with millions of other images of bullets and casings in databases.
- Matching similar images can help police solve crimes.
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