A kind of allegedly answerable for the failure of the Caisse de dépôt etplacement du Québec (CDPQ) within the Celsius Community has simply been recruited by CGI, an organization through which the Caisse has a stake and which receives tens of millions of IT contracts from the supervisor of Quebecers’ Pension Fund.
The data expertise (IT) consultancy has certainly confirmed to the Journal that Alexandre Synnett, the Caisse’s former senior vp and chief expertise officer, has served as CGI’s new senior vp for the Capitale-Nationwide area since early June.
Nonetheless, CGI is a crucial exterior supplier of laptop providers to the Caisse. In accordance with the Entry to Data Act, the Toronto Inventory Alternate-listed firm has obtained greater than $50 million in mandates from the Caisse over the previous three years, with simply $22 million in 2022.
Unfounded allegation
When requested, the Caisse defended its former Vice-President’s choice to affix the corporate, recalling that the CDPQ invests in nearly 5,000 totally different corporations and arguing that CGI – one among them – is a provider. the Caisse for some thirty years, that’s “lengthy earlier than Mr Synnett joined the organisation”.
As well as, CDPQ spokesperson Kate Monfette emailed two excerpts from CDPQ’s Code of Ethics and Conduct and claimed that Mr Synnett didn’t break any guidelines by becoming a member of the CGI.
Screenshot: Caisse web site
Alexander Synnett. (Photograph: Caisse de Depot)
“Mr. “Synnett has plain {qualifications} that make him the candidate of selection for an organization working within the IT area,” she continued. His new place (…) is unrelated to our service contracts with CGI. Any allegation of battle of curiosity or violation of moral ideas is with out advantage.”
The Celsius fiasco
The title of Alexandre Synnett stays, rightly or wrongly, intently linked to the $200 million loss made by the Caisse within the monetary debacle of the American crypto financial institution Celsius Community.
At the moment (from June 2020 to November 2022), Alexandre Synnett held the place of Senior Vice-President and Chief Expertise Officer at la Caisse. Earlier than retiring in February 2023, he had been demoted to government vp of personal expertise placements three months earlier.
File picture, Francis Halin
The CEO of the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, Charles Emond.
The CEO of the Caisse, Charles Emond, introduced his resignation to the press on the presentation of the monetary outcomes for 2022. Synnett left our group about two weeks in the past. “He has determined to go away of his personal free will,” he had mentioned tersely and with out additional rationalization.
one other begin
In a subsequent interview, Mr Emond indicated that he discovered “many classes” from the episode, which pressured “an introspection” inside the group he led, and that CDPQ could be “much more vigilant” going ahead. given rising sectors.
Photograph archive, QMI Company
Claude Bergeron, former senior vp and chief threat officer. The latter left the Caisse de depot etplacement du Québec earlier this yr.
A number of weeks earlier, Claude Bergeron, beforehand senior vp and chief threat officer of the Caisse de dépôt, had additionally introduced his resignation after the Celsius fiasco. The latter was changed by David Latour.
Regardless of the modifications in recent times, the Caisse de dépôt stays a serious shareholder of CGI at present. In March, the CDPQ nonetheless held round 19 million shares of the IT firm’s shares, a stake value 8.16% of the corporate.
Earlier than becoming a member of the Caisse in 2010, Mr. Synnett labored on the Nationwide Financial institution of Canada for nearly 5 years, as vp of knowledge warehousing and enterprise intelligence after which as senior director of enterprise intelligence experience.
In collaboration with Sylvain Larocque.