Former public servant linked to ArriveCan questioned by MPs about government contracts

MPs grilled the head of an IT firm over his employment with the Department of National Defence (DND) during a House committee meeting on Tuesday.

David Yeo, founder and president of Dalian Enterprises — which was involved in the development of the federal government's controversial ArriveCan app — has been facing scrutiny since it was reported that he was a DND employee while his company held contracts with the federal government.

Dalian told CBC News earlier this month that Yeo had been hired by DND only this past September and that he took steps to address any conflict of interest concerns by agreeing to have no involvement with Dalian's DND projects and putting the company into a «blind trust.»

Yeo repeated those assertions to MPs on the public accounts committee on Tuesday, saying that he had been «hands off» with the company when he became a DND employee. The government suspended Yeo's employment and he said he has since resigned from the department.

But MPs questioned how distant he was from the company while he was working for DND.

Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné pointed out that his signature appeared on government contracts that were signed after he was hired by DND. Yeo said he had «a signature available» for staff to use on contracts.

«I provided my signature to the staff so if there was something going on, that I would not even be aware of it,» he said.

Dalian was one of the contractors that worked on the ArriveCan app. Yeo appeared before the government operations committee in October to discuss ArriveCan, but presented himself as Dalian's founder and president. He didn't tell MPs on that committee that he had been hired by DND.

«I am an executive on the board of directors for Dalian, and I maintain all