The federal Information Commissioner says investigators will decide by the end of the year whether ArriveCan emails were deliberately destroyed, an offence that could carry jail time.“This is a very complex investigation involving very serious allegations,” Caroline Maynard told the Commons ethics committee. Blacklock's Reporter said she confirmed her office is probing claims that records sought under the Access To Information Act were intentionally deleted, an offence punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.Blacklock’s first reported last fall that emails between the Canada Border Services Agency and sole-sourced ArriveCan contractors were erased only days after being requested. .GC Strategies Inc., the contractor at the centre of the controversy, is already under RCMP investigation for fraudulent billing.Conservative MP Michael Barrett pressed Maynard on whether early findings suggest the law was broken. “With respect to ArriveCan, I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to talk to you about the investigation,” she replied.At the heart of the controversy is Minh Doan, the former chief information officer at Border Services. .He admitted his emails with GC Strategies vanished just four days after being told to produce them. Doan insisted the deletion was accidental, claiming the records were corrupted during a laptop transfer. “On the allegation that I moved files around to intentionally delete emails to hide evidence, this is false,” he testified.MPs weren’t convinced. “You are very good at telling lies,” Conservative MP Larry Brock shot back during committee hearings.
