Crocus cabinet document wasn't withheld: auditor general
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 | 2:48 PM CT
CBC News
Manitoba's auditor general sent a stinging rebuke to the opposition parties Wednesday over her office's access to a leaked cabinet document about the Crocus Investment Fund.
Carol Bellringer said contrary to claims made by the Conservative and Liberal parties since the weekend, her office did have access to the document in 2005, when the former auditor general conducted his review of the fund's demise.
The Liberal Party released the cabinet document over the weekend. Both opposition parties said the document indicated the government had knowledge of a looming cash crisis at Crocus years before the fund collapsed, but former auditor Jon Singleton did not have access to the document when he conducted his review.
Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen claimed earlier this week that Singleton told him he had not seen the document.
Bellringer said Wednesday that the opposition's claims are wrong. The document was in Singleton's files, she said.
"What we found, through the media coverage, was that there was information clearly being distributed quite widely and in a public way that we felt could be easily perceived as being inaccurate."
The opposition has been calling for Bellringer to conduct a new investigation into Crocus.
Bellringer, who sat on the Crocus board in 2005, said she has received no formal request to do so.
Opposition leaders are planning another news conference Wednesday afternoon to respond to Bellringer's statements.
Saved taxpayers millions: Selinger
The leaked cabinet document, written by Selinger in 2000, discusses changes Crocus wanted to make in the face of looming "liquidity problems" and raises concerns about the fund's ability to pay investors who wanted to redeem their shares over the next few years.
Selinger insists his government's actions in 2000 — he refused to allow Crocus to make the changes it sought — saved taxpayers millions in potential losses through the fund.
That suggestion left McFadyen almost speechless on Tuesday: "I mean, the audacity of saying, 'I did my job,' and we've got a $100-million loss on our hands, is remarkable."
About 34,000 Manitobans had more than $150 million invested in the fund, which had a mandate to invest in Manitoba companies. Crocus stopped trading in late 2004 amid concerns about the true value of its shares. The fund went into receivership in June 2005.
