2 N.S. men convicted of $2M fraud against Defence Department

Two Nova Scotia men have been convicted of bilking the Department of National Defence out of about $2 million as part of a schemeto buy and sell parts at exorbitant prices and without competitive bidstothe former heating plant at Canadian Forces Base Shearwater in Eastern Passage, N.S.

Bry'n Ross was a purchasing agent for the base and he repeatedly steered contracts to his friend, Harold Dawson, who owned four companies that bid on government contracts.

Evidence at the trial for the two men found Dawson formed the four companies to create the impression there was a competitive bidding process for the supply contracts.

Justice James Chipman found the vast majority of contracts were steered to Dawson's companies. The judge also found that prices for some of the parts supplied in this arrangement were inflated. In one example cited by the judge, a ball valve had a quoted unit price of $8.50, but DND was charged $124.50 for each valvesupplied by one of Dawson's companies. DND purchased 15 of the valves.

Both Dawson and Ross testified in their own defence during the trial, which spanned 21 days and included a massive amount of documents. There were 650 purchase orders introduced as evidence, covering the four-year period between April 2008 and May 2012 that formed the basis of the investigation by military police dubbed Operation Aftermath.

4 people originally charged

Chipman said he found both Dawson and Ross lacking credibility in their evidence and was left with no doubt that both men were guilty of fraud.

Four people were initially charged as a result of Operation Aftermath.

Wayne Langille, who was a former manager of the heating plant, entered a guilty plea before thetrial started. A charge against Dawson's wife, Kimberley Dawson, was dropped.

The heating plant has since been replaced.