In order for Nortel to have benefitted from the SRED program, it would have had to owe income tax to the government, and in order to owe tax, it would have to have had income. Nortel has lost money 10 of the last 11 years.

Riedel did not know if Nortel used SRED tax credits prior to 2001.

LM Ericsson last month agreed to buy the business unit of Nortel that manufactures products for wireless carriers using code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. Ericsson's agreement resulted from an auction July 24, which was preceded by a stalking horse bid from Nokia Siemens Networks in June.

In answering a question from Marc Garneau, a member of parliament and former Canadian astronaut who sits on the committee, Riedel said in 2003 Export Development Canada provided "a bonding facility" to support customer commitments, in order to sell network or tech in markets.

The amount was between $250 million and $750 million but was not for research and development, Riedel said.