This man has a double identity. His company makes millions through public contracts

A private security firm that has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in public contracts is headed by a man with a double identity, and the company's questionable business practices have made it the target of an investigation, Radio-Canada's Enquête program has learned.

In the last decade, Neptune has won public contracts across Canada, most notably with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Sûreté du Québec, Quebec's provincial police force. It has also provided security to several courthouses in Quebec, does construction work on military bases and has roadwork contracts with Ontario's Transport Ministry.

In an email, the Autorité des marchés publics (AMP), the agency that oversees public contracts in Quebec, confirmed that it is investigating the company.

Sources with knowledge of the security firm's operations describe Robert Butler as the head of the company. Butler denies this.

"I am not the head of Neptune. I don't manage Neptune, neither directly nor indirectly, " Butler told Enquête during a phone conversation.

Instead, he claims to work for Neptune's construction wing and that the organization is "very big, very large."

This contradicts what he told the Quebec Superior Court in 2019 and 2020, when he testified under oath and said he was Neptune's CEO.

Neptune has had several legal battles in recent years, including with the City of Montreal and Quebec City.

"I take care of the company's business in different parts of the world," Butler told the judge while answering questions from his lawyer.

In 2019, Henry Jenkins, a former security guard with Neptune, received an unexpected phone call.

At the time, he was seeking a few hundred dollars he believed the company owed him. He said the caller introduced himself as Robert Butler and said he was Neptune's owner.

"He wasn't happy. He was offended. He started yelling at me," Jenkins said.

"He told me that he would use all of the financial resources of his business to clean me out financially, and that [the process] could last 10 years if he wanted."

The name Robert Butler doesn't appear on the company's website. It also isn't included in any of the company's official documents.