The Liberals may have more questions to answer about missing money connected to the Department of Public Works after a published report suggested millions of dollars awarded through the Canadian Space Agency have not been properly accounted for.

According to a report in Thursday's Montreal Gazette, at least $7 million in contracts awarded through the Space Agency and approved by beleaguered former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano haven't been supported by the required documentation.

The paper cites court documents obtained from a $14 million civil lawsuit currently being heard in Quebec Superior Court. Samir Elomari is suing the space agency over an invention he created and says was falsely appropriated.

According to court transcripts obtained by The Gazette, Elomari filed an Access to Information request to see reports related to two Space Agency contracts that had been awarded to Tecsult Eduplus, which is 50-per-cent owned by Hydro-Quebec. His application was denied.

One of the Tecsult Eduplus deals was for $5.2 million to develop a training program and simulator, as well as multimedia learning software for astronauts.

The other was for $2.1 million to produce computer-based materials for use in International Space Station projects.

Both were approved by Gagliano, and were two of six deals totaling $18.1 million that were announced in June 2000.

Court documents indicate that in neither of the Tecsult contracts was there written accounting of how the money was spent, despite the stipulation that the company "prepare and submit monthly progress reports in two copies" to the space agency.

Col. Benoit Marcotte, operations engineering director responsible for managing the contracts at the agency, testified at a May 17 hearing that written reports weren't necessary and that the only documents submitted were monthly bills.

Gagliano is already under fire over the $100-million in misspent funds that went to some Liberal-friendly ad agencies under his watch.

He was fired from his post as ambassador to Denmark following a damning report by the auditor-general and is now suing both Prime Minister Paul Martin and the federal government for defamation and wrongful dismissal for a total of $4.5 million.