"I think it has to do with some government contracts," said Don Cooper, deputy minister of justice.

"I have no idea what contracts we're talking about, I have no idea who, if anyone, the investigation is directed at, and I'm not going to ask," said Cooper. "If I did, it could be construed as an attempt to obstruct justice in some way."

Seven MLAs who responded to a canvass of all MLAs by News/North reporters Friday said they hadn't been questioned by the RCMP about the fraud investigation, nor were they aware of any other MLAs who had been questioned.

They all claimed that they heard about the investigation through the media, not internally through the government grapevine.

"I have no idea what it's all about, but it probably involves someone taking government money," Yellowknife North MLA Roy Erasmus.

"It probably happens every day, but they don't just don't get caught."

Mackenzie Delta MLA David Krutko said that there's been lots of rumors about the investigation, but he couldn't confirm or deny any of what he's heard.

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

Such investigations are a federal responsibility, said Ng, 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.

Sgt. Tom Steggles, RCMP spokesman in Yellowknife, said 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, RCMP haven't released any information about the six-month 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.

Staff Sgt. Dave Bradley, a commercial crime investigator in Edmonton, said only that it's a sensitive issue that is being handled as such because of the government's involvement.

"It's a serious allegation, so it's investigated more thoroughly," said Bradley. "We've had investigations here that have gone on for years."

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