Organized crime

Former Laval mayor charged with two counts of gangsterism, 37 nabbed

Topics: 
Quebec, Corruption, Municipalities, Organized crime, Construction industry
Rating: 
0

CTV News – May 9, 2013

Laval’s “mayor-for-life” was once considered an untouchable force in Quebec politics. On Thursday afternoon, Gilles Vaillancourt sat in front of a judge in handcuffs, facing one of the most serious charges in Canadian law.

Vaillancourt had run Laval virtually unopposed since 1989, stepping down last November after a series of raids on his homes, office and bank accounts. The former mayor is now facing 12 counts, including two charges of gangsterism.

Swiss offshore tax whistleblower faces possible extradition

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Financial industry, Whistleblowers, Drug trafficking, Organized crime
Rating: 
0

Giles Tremlett – April 26, 2013

When he appeared in a Madrid court, banking whistleblower Hervé Falciani was disguised with a wig and thick-framed glasses. Facing extradition, the man behind the "Lagarde list" of potential tax cheats said in a newspaper interview he had fled to Spain last year when the US authorities told him it was the only country in Europe where his life would not be in danger.

Now Falciani, 41, whose spectacular theft of account data from a Swiss subsidiary of HSBC in 2006-7 has helped uncover thousands of wealthy tax fraudsters, is about to find out if he will be extradited to Switzerland, where he faces prosecution and up to seven years in jail.

Money laundering laws not working, Senate committee says

Topics: 
White-collar crime, Organized crime, Terrorism
Rating: 
3

Laura Payton – March 20, 2013

The laws meant to deal with money laundering and terrorist financing in Canada aren't working and need a major overhaul to be effective, according to a Senate banking committee report released Wednesday.

The time for incremental change of the country's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws, described as the regime, has passed, the report says. The committee wants to see changes that make Canada:

Alleged Mafia link says cash was for community fundraisers

Topics: 
Quebec, Construction industry, Organized crime
Rating: 
0
Nicolo Milioto

Sidhartha Banerjee – February 18, 2013

The Quebec corruption inquiry has arrived at the doorstep of the Sicilian Mafia, with its latest witness described as the key link between the construction industry, politics and the underworld. But investigators have found themselves butting up against a door sealed firmly shut at Monday’s hearing.

Nicolo Milioto — the witness with the memorable moniker “Mr. Sidewalk” — proudly shared his rags-to-riches immigrant success story. He apologized for any mistakes he might make speaking French, explaining that he’d picked up the language on the street.

Another Quebec whistleblower receives death threat

Topics: 
Quebec, Organized crime, Reprisals, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
4
Andre Durocher

Jean-Louis Fortin – February 12, 2013

A former Quebec excavation contractor received a sympathy card, making reference to his own death, after he blew the whistle on collusion in his industry.

Andre Durocher is the second witness to be intimidated with a condolence card after testifying at the Charbonneau Commission.

Montreal’s corruption culture ‘needs to be wiped out,’ whistleblower says

Topics: 
Quebec, Corruption, Organized crime, Construction industry, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
0

Les Perreaux – December 27, 2012

A man who helped blow the lid off of years of corruption in Quebec says one major chore remains in 2013 if Montrealers want their city to have a chance at a squeaky-clean slate.

Every single elected official who has been around Montreal city hall for more than a few years must be thrown out of office, according to André Cédilot, a long-time crime writer who first blew the whistle on corruption in the greater Montreal region in the early 1990s.

Ontario is the mob's 'money-laundering capital' for the world

Topics: 
Organized crime, Ontario
Rating: 
3
Vito Rizzuto

Rob Lamberti – December 26, 2012

A low-key mob war being waged in Quebec won't rattle this province because Ontario is the economic engine fuelling the battle, sources say. Ontario is the source of most of the wealth for organized crime while the violence for the most part remains in Quebec.

The province, according to investigators and an organized crime expert, is bankrolling European operations, often targets of tough money laundering and asset seizure laws.

Prostitutes offered to Montreal city official: corruption inquiry

Topics: 
Quebec, Construction industry, Organized crime
Rating: 
3

Sidhartha Banerjee – November 13, 2012

A Montreal municipal official was offered prostitutes' services as a gift from construction companies, he testified Tuesday at Quebec's corruption inquiry.

The suspended Montreal engineer said he received numerous bottles of wine, fancy dinners and hockey tickets — and he added that companies' generosity sometimes got a little more personal. Gilles Vezina said he was offered the services of an escort on at least two occasions by two different construction bosses in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Canada’s missing $1,000 bills: in the hands of criminal elites

Topics: 
Organized crime, Financial industry, Drug trafficking
Rating: 
3
The following are selected extracts

Adrian Humphreys – Nov 15, 2012

More than 10 years after the $1,000 bill disappeared from circulation 946,043 of them are still out there, somewhere. The whereabouts of almost $1-billion worth of the banknotes is a mystery rekindled this month at Quebec’s corruption probe when a witness spoke of a safe over-stuffed with cash, including $1,000 notes, inside a political office.

Retired on May 12, 2000, for being mostly used in criminal transactions, any $1,000 note deposited at a bank is destroyed, although the bills — nicknamed “pinkies” by gangsters because of the pinkish-purple ink — remain legal tender.

‘Unexplained’ death of Russian whistleblower in UK

Topics: 
Russia, Whistleblowers, Reprisals, Organized crime
Rating: 
2
The following are selected extracts

Natalie Huet and Maria Golovnina – November 28, 2012

A Russian businessman helping Swiss prosecutors uncover a powerful fraud syndicate has died in unexplained circumstances near his mansion in Britain, in a chilling twist to a Russian mafia scandal that has strained Moscow’s ties with the West.

Alexander Perepilichny, 44, sought refuge in Britain three years ago and had been helping a Swiss investigation into a Russian money-laundering scheme by providing evidence against corrupt officials, his colleagues and media reports said.

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