CVS executive David Rickard answers questions from prosecutor Stephen Dambruch, center. In foreground are John Kramer, center, and his lawyers. Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi presides.

The Providence Journal / frank gerardi

PROVIDENCE — In early 2001, Betty Bibeault, administrative assistant to CVS executive Carlos Ortiz, was thumbing through a file cabinet at company headquarters when she found a signed consulting agreement for state Sen. John A. Celona.

The discovery caught Bibeault off guard, and she asked her boss about it.

“Why are we paying him?” she said.

She said that Ortiz instructed her to cut him a check for his work as a consultant. He told her that the hiring was something that CVS executive “Jack [Kramer] wanted to do.”

Again, Bibeault said she pressed Ortiz on the hiring.

“He will be the eyes and ears of CVS with the senior-citizen population,” Ortiz said, according to Bibeault. “He indicated that Mr. Celona had checked with the Ethics Commission and it was OK.”

Bibeault spent three hours on the witness stand yesterday as the first week of the trial of Ortiz, 64, and Kramer, 75, concluded in U.S. District Court. The former CVS executives are charged with 23 counts of bribery, fraud and conspiracy for hiring Celona to help promote the drugstore chain’s legislative agenda at the State House.

The final witness for the week was David Rickard, executive vice president and chief financial officer at CVS, who was given an additional responsibility in November 2001: overseeing the company’s governmental-affairs division, which included direct supervision of Ortiz and Kramer. Among Rickard’s duties was reviewing expenditures from the governmental-affairs budget.

Rickard, formerly an executive at RJR Nabisco, said he was given the expanded responsibilities after CVS suffered a bad year and shareholders were not pleased with the company’s performance. In essence, Rickard said that Wall Street felt that Tom Ryan, CVS’ chief executive officer, had “too much on his plate.”

As a result, Ryan shifted governmental affairs to Rickard.

At the time, Celona was completing his second year as a CVS consultant, for which he had been paid about $20,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch fired a series of questions at Rickard.

“Did anybody ever mention the name John Celona?” he said.

“Not that I recall,” Rickard said.

“Ever see a document with [John Celona’s name on it] during the budgetary process?” Dambruch said.

“Not to my recollection,” said Rickard.

Rickard said that he met Celona at several social functions over the years, but the former senator never mentioned anything about his employment at CVS.

During cross-examination by Scott Corrigan, one of Kramer’s lawyers, Rickard said that Kramer and Ortiz were free to hire consultants without his approval. He conceded that either CVS executive could have approved the payments to Celona.

Rickard finished his testimony at 12:50 p.m., and Judge Mary M. Lisi sent the jury home for the weekend.

The trial resumes Monday at 9 a.m. and Celona, the government’s star witness, is expected to be escorted into court by federal marshals. He has been serving a 2½-year sentence in a federal prison in western Pennsylvania for selling his office to CVS and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

On May 5, he was brought to the Donald W. Wyatt Federal Detention Center in Central Falls to get ready to testify. Celona has been cooperating with the government in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.

Earlier yesterday, Corrigan walked Bibeault through dozens of invoices, checks and e-mails involving Celona’s relationship with CVS. She testified that there was nothing unusual about the way Celona was paid. “They were processed just like the rest,” she said.

Corrigan also entered exhibits that showed CVS paid other consultants, such as Albers & Co., in Washington, D.C., more than $14,000. But the higher-paid consultant groups had staffs who were licensed lobbyists and, unlike Celona, there’s no evidence that any of the consultants held elected office.

Corrigan and Thomas Kiley, one of Ortiz’s lawyers, continued to press the point that no one at CVS tried to hide the payments to Celona.

“Did anybody, at any time, ever ask you to hide or destroy any of the documents related to John Celona?” Corrigan said.

“Never,” Bibeault said. The Witnesses

Betty Bibeault, shown at left, a former administrative assistant to ex-CVS executive Carlos Ortiz, says she questioned Ortiz about Celona’s hiring.

David Rickard, a CVS vice president and chief financial officer, says he oversaw the company’s governmental-affairs division, but wasn’t told about Celona.

The government’s star witness, ex-Sen. John Celona, is expected to be escorted into court Monday.

bmalinow@projo.com