In his previous role as Credit Suisse First Boston’s key Montreal executive in 2004, Fortier had helped to underwrite CGI's $858 million acquisition of AMS Inc.[4] Based on this apparent conflict of interest, opposition parties and the media called for a public inquiry.
On June 10, 2008, Don Powell, President of TPG, testified at a Parliamentary Committee about the irregularities in the ETS procurement.
[6] In early 2009, TPG and 17 other defendants were charged with bid-rigging[7] by a newly appointed Crown Prosecutor, who had run for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1997 election.
This charge has been presented by the media as retribution by the government against TPG and Powell for alleging unfairness in the procurement process and a political cover-up.
[9] As a result of the many unusual circumstances surrounding the award of the ETS contract and its aftermath, many members of the media, politicians and judges (amongst others) have raised concerns in relation to this scandal.
[14] In April 2015 the first jury trial ended with not guilty on all counts verdicts for Marina Durward, Sue Laycock, Phil McDonald, Don Powell, Tom Townsend, Ron Walker, Devon Group, Spearhead Management and TPG Technology, with David Watts being acquitted in February by directed verdict.
The court ruled that Justice Kershman had erred, and it could not be determined, based solely on a Crown motion, whether or not statements made about TPG on the Government of Canada’s Competition Bureau website were defamatory.