OTTAWA - A former senior RCMP contracts manager who pleaded guilty to fraud in 2002 after accepting a free trip and lodgings from a police-car supplier is now teaching ethics to rookie bureaucrats at the Canada School of the Public Service.

Alfred J. Dupuis, the former head of RCMP procurement in Ottawa who pleaded guilty to committing a fraud against the government in November, 2002, lectured at a three-day seminar on government procurement and ethics last week.

The introduction to procurement seminar, which included a discussion about ethics, was held at the Asticou school for public servants in West Quebec, confirmed Lisa Allaire, communications director for the federal public service training school.

Ms. Allaire said she was unaware of Mr. Dupuis' past legal troubles as a RCMP procurement manager.

"I don't have any response to that. I don't have any information on that,'' she said.

Mr. Dupuis is employed by the Lemmex Group, a training and consulting company hired by the school to train new contract manager bureaucrats, she said.

Lemmex Group is a 27-year-old company formed by Ottawa businessman Rod Lemmex. It has grown into one of the largest designers and suppliers of special and vocational training programs for governments and the private sector.

Clients include federal, provincial and municipal government departments, including the RCMP and Department of National Defence and Crown corporations.

Mr. Lemmex did not return messages left at his Ottawa office and home yesterday. A receptionist said no other Lemmex manager was available to take questions.

Ms. Allaire said the Lemmex Group -- not the public service school itself -- is responsible for the instructors who teach the school's seminars and courses.

''We have procedures in place when we hire consultants through requests for proposals. Those procedures were followed in this particular case,'' she added.

Ms. Allaire said the school's procedures required the consultants to ensure their instructors had an ''enhanced reliability status'' security clearance.

Asked whether Mr. Dupuis has such a clearance, Ms. Allaire replied she didn't know.

''I don't have that in my hand,'' she said.

Gilles Paquet, a professor emeritus and research fellow at the University of Ottawa's political studies department, said the use of Mr. Dupuis as a procurement instructor was ''an unforgivable error in judgment.''

''Clearly, they're not screening instructors carefully enough. I'm disturbed that the School of the Public Service didn't know about his past. It seems to be a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing,'' Mr. Paquet said.

The professor said Mr. Dupuis should not be punished for the rest of his life for past mistakes, but screening of instructors should be strengthened.

Ontario Superior Court of Justice Hugh Fraser gave Mr. Dupuis, 51, a conditional discharge and put him on nine months probation in 2002 after he pleaded guilty to a fraud charge and agreed to make a $1,000 donation to the Salvation Army.

The Crown prosecutor handling the case had recommended a $5,000 fine.

Mr. Dupuis admitted he and another family member accepted a free trip and lodgings from the Ford Motor Company of Canada to attend car races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1999 without prior permission from the RCMP.

Ford Canada supplied cars to the RCMP for the Summit of Americas in Quebec City.

Mr. Dupuis, suspended from the RCMP during a six-month Ontario Provincial Police fraud probe, eventually resigned his RCMP civilian staffer's job.

The OPP criminal investigation into a senior RCMP employee was requested by RCMP Commissioner Guiliano Zaccardelli. The probe garnered headlines at the time and caused consternation and embarrassment within the lower ranks of the RCMP.