OTTAWA-
A federal public official has pleaded not guilty to breach of trust for allegedly leaking government secrets over a $ 700 million shipbuilding project.
Matthew Matchett filed the statement this morning during the start of his trial, more than three years after he was first charged.
Matchett is accused of allegedly leaking secret cabinet documents about a contract between the federal government and the Chantier Davie shipyard in Quebec in November 2015.
That’s when the new Liberal government decided to suspend the conclusion of a contract with Davie to rent a temporary supply boat for the Navy, an agreement they later approved.
Matchett, who was indicted in February 2019, has opted to be tried by a jury and is expected to stand trial for four weeks.
In 2017, retired Vice Admiral Mark Norman was suspended as second in command of the army and later charged with breach of trust in 2018 on charges that leaked cabinet secrets about the same shipbuilding project.
Norman pleaded not guilty and Crown prosecutors finally suspended the indictment in May 2019, saying new evidence they had received from Norman’s defense team had led them to conclude that there was no reasonable chance of condemnation.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 6, 2022.