by Richard Gleeson and Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (June 13/97) - Edmonton RCMP are investigating a public complaint laid against the GNWT, but police in Yellowknife are tight-lipped about the details.

Sgt. Tom Steggles, RCMP spokesman in Yellowknife, said that a commercial crime section investigation began six months ago to see if there were grounds to a complaint laid in January.

"It's a complaint of possible irregularities in government operations," he said.

To date, the RCMP haven't released any information about the lengthy investigation, except that Edmonton officers are handling the complaint because they have a member who's worked on similar cases in the past.

Commercial crime sections typically investigate white-collar crimes such as fraud.

Steggles wouldn't say Thursday if the investigation is focused on a government department or GNWT employee.

NWT Minister of Justice Kelvin Ng said he first found about the investigation this week, when he heard news of it on the radio.

Ng said such investigations are a federal responsibility, though the GNWT has initiated them in the past, when it has observed fraudulent activity.

"We're not like a provincial jurisdiction. We don't do the prosecutions. In that respect we're kind of like an independent outside agency. If there's serious charges that would impact us as a government, they would advise us of that afterwards."

Ng said that in provincial jurisdictions such investigations would be overseen by the attorney general's office.

"It would be inappropriate for me as the justice minister to try to influence the investigation or interfere in any way," said Ng.