DND paid $1m for sub technology, now can’t find European company

OTTAWA — A European company that was paid $1 million to provide equipment for the Canadian navy’s submarines has taken the money and run.

The Department of National Defence has been trying since 2009 to get the equipment it paid for from Applied Radar and Sonar Technologies GmbH, a German firm. But the company is no longer registered in Germany and “cannot be contacted,” according to a December 2012 briefing document for senior department staff.

The Ottawa Citizen has tracked the firm to Izmir, a city in Turkey, but company officials did not respond to emails or telephone calls seeking comment.

The company was supposed to deliver a transportable acoustic range to the Royal Canadian Navy. It was supposedly being built at the company’s facilities in Turkey but officials with Public Works and Government Services Canada couldn’t locate that site.

The equipment was to have been delivered in 2009. “Contractor has not delivered on key deliverables and cannot be contacted,” said the briefing note obtained by the Citizen.

DND spokeswoman Tracy Poirier stated in an email that “following a default by the contractor, Public Works and Government Services Canada terminated the contract.”

The equipment was to be used on the west coast to support Victoria-class submarine operations.

— CANADIAN PRESS FILES The Canadian government has given up trying to receive submarinesupport equipment it paid $1 million toward.