Testifying before the Commons sponsorship program probe, the former president of VIA Rail is denying that the Crown corporation was ever involved in "imaginary" or fraudulent transactions.

Refuting claims in Auditor General Sheila Fraser's sponsorship program report -- that the Crown Corporation billed a private ad agency with duplicate invoices in order to draw on the ad funding -- Marc LeFrancois said no such thing ever happened.

"Via Rail did not participate in any imaginary, unreal, counterfeit or not genuine transactions and did not deliver any fictitious documents," he told the Commons public accounts committee on Wednesday.

Via Rail did nothing illegal, he insisted, and he has the receipts to prove it.

"As is shown in my affidavit, all of the documents produced reflect transactions initiated by the department of Public Works that are fully transparent and show proper accounting and stewardship of assets."

Via Rail was among several Crown corporations specifically named in Fraser's February report that detailed $100 million in misspending.

In her report, Fraser described questionable transactions between Public Works' communications branch, Via Rail, L'Information essentielle and Lafleur Communication.

In his testimony, LeFrancois turned the tables on the Auditor General, suggesting Fraser used inexact and unacceptable language in her references to the alleged non-existent receipts.

And, he said, peoples' perception of him and the company's conduct have been tainted by a misreading of her report.

Specifically, LeFrancois offered a pointed defence of an oral agreement he struck with the federal government for Via to back a movie on hockey legend Maurice Richard.

"Via Rail often participates in joint ventures with professional partners," he said. Conceding he should have gone back and secured a written contract, he nevertheless insisted there was no wrongdoing.

The government made promoting the cause of national unity a priority he said, and it was not his job to question such decisions.

"Who am I to tell the government of Canada what to do," he asked.

The former Via executive is the latest to testify in front of the Commons committee charged with determining who is responsible for the misspending.

LeFrancois was fired in the wake of the report last month, and is suing Ottawa for $2.7 million for wrongful dismissal.

"I was profoundly disappointed by the lack of effort to even simulate a fair process," he told the Commons committee.

After a meeting with Transport Minister Tony Valeri that amounted to "a monologue" in his own defence, LeFrancois said he learned of his dismissal the next day -- on the front page of The Globe and Mail.

"I didn't deserve to be dismissed, especially in such a cavalier way."

Former Via chairman Jean Pelletier is also suing Ottawa for defamation and wrongful dismissal. And former Business Development Bank president Michel Vennat is contesting his suspension and dismissal in a matter unrelated to the sponsorship scandal.

Vennat played a key role in the firing of ex-BDC president Francois Beaudoin, who had opposed a loan to a hotel in former prime minister Jean Chretien's riding in Shawinigan, Que.

LeFrancois says Via was a successful company under his watch, adding that he served with "integrity, efficiency and loyalty."