Expense list shows DND picked up tab for disgraced general’s move to UAE

OTTAWA – National Defence paid almost $40,000 to move a disgraced general from the Montreal area to the United Arab Emirates following his court martial for having sex with a subordinate and obstruction of justice.

That bill is found on an expense summary of taxpayer-funded moving expenses for the military’s top brass.

The revelation about former brigadier-general Dan Menard is contained in the same records that show retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie was allowed to claim more than $72,000 for a move within Ottawa after he left the military.

Menard, who was relieved in 2010 as combat commander in Afghanistan, resigned from the military before being convicted of the charges against him, and was recently in the headlines for being detained in Afghanistan in his current role as an executive for a private security company.

CTV News broke the story about Leslie over the weekend.

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson renewed his attack on Leslie today, saying the moving expense was “grossly excessive” and the policy was never meant for “generals to move between mansions within the same city.”