Quebec

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.

Montreal Hospitals Facing a "Toxic Culture": St-Mary's Physician

Topics: 
Quebec, Whistleblowers, Health care
Rating: 
5
Dr. Alex Nataros

Brendan K-Edwards – March 25, 2013

According to Dr. Alexander Nataros, the McGill Faculty of Medicine has launched personal attacks against him that have “sent chills to the depths of the McGill system.” A hierarchical professional culture at McGill affiliated hospitals in which senior doctors are viewed as intimidating and unassailable is putting patients lives at risk, said Dr. Nataros, a junior doctor at Saint Mary’s hospital.

Dr. Nataros who is currently on a forced paid leave of absence from his family practice, claims that members of the McGill Faculty of Medicine are attempting to defame his name because he reported an incident in which serious errors were made by senior doctors.

Medical resident says he was punished for standing up for patients

Topics: 
Whistleblowers, Quebec, Health care
Rating: 
0

Farid Rener – March 23, 2013

The culture of impunity for senior staff at hospitals affiliated with McGill is putting patients at risk, according to Dr. Alexander Nataros, a first-year family medicine resident at Saint Mary’s hospital.

In November 2012, Nataros, who is currently on a forced paid leave of absence, received a patient after senior doctors made what he said were “significant life-threatening medical errors.” Nataros, who says he rectified these errors, and thereby saved the patient’s life, is now under fire for questioning his supervisors’ actions.

Steeped in graft, and no one blew the whistle

Topics: 
Quebec, Corruption, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
5

Jeffrey Simpson – March 30, 2013

Months into the Charbonneau inquiry investigating corruption in Montreal, there’s no smoking gun. Rather, there’s smoke everywhere from many guns.

What Quebeckers know so far is that corruption was widespread, deep and long-standing. The practices in municipal government grew up over many years. They were known, accepted and used by many actors, inside government and in industries.

SNC-Lavalin senior execs accused of hiding commission fees

Topics: 
Quebec, White-collar crime, Construction industry
Rating: 
3

John Nicol, Brigitte Noël and Dave Seglins – March 14, 2013

Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin is facing a new scandal and a $1.24-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit alleging attempted coverups by executives involving millions of dollars in controversial payments to an agent it employed for a dam project in Angola.

This latest controversy over the payment of commissions to hired ‘agents’ in foreign countries involves SNC-Lavalin’s hydro power division and follows the surprising and seemingly benign resignation of executive vice-president Patrick Lamarre on Jan. 18, and the dismissal of three employees — John Brown, Jean-Pierre Mourez and their boss Joseph Salim, who filed the lawsuit earlier this week in Montreal.

Money trail leads from Montreal to Tunis to the Bahamas

Topics: 
Quebec, White-collar crime, Construction industry
Rating: 
3

Catherine Solyom – March 1, 2013

An affidavit in support of a search warrant for the MUHC headquarters made public Friday provides a paper trail for $22.5 million police allege the SNC-Lavalin engineering firm paid in kickbacks to former McGill University Health Centre director Arthur Porter and Yanaï Elbaz, the MUHC’s former planning director.

Within a month of being awarded the $1.3-billion contract to build the McGill superhospital, SNC-Lavalin executives allegedly wired $10 million to a Bahamas-based company called Sierra Asset Management.

Charbonneau commission: whistleblowers the key

Topics: 
Quebec, Corruption, Political misconduct, Whistleblowers, Corporate ethics
Rating: 
5
Michel Lalonde

Catherine Solyom – March 6, 2013

Note to Michel Lalonde: this is NOT what democracy looks like. Citing the “continuity of provincial democracy,” the president of Genius Conseil (formerly Groupe Séguin) told the Charbonneau Commission this week that his associates and family members all made contributions to the three provincial political parties — and the firm paid the associates back with generous Christmas bonuses.

Known as a prête-nom, or frontman scheme, the ruse allowed the firm, eager to keep its place at the provincial trough of public contracts, to contribute, from 1999 to 2009, $117,000 to the Parti Québécois, $94,000 to the Liberal Party of Quebec and $29,000 to the Action démocratique du Québec, which has since folded into the Coalition Avenir Québec.

Man arrested in superhospital fraud case

Topics: 
Quebec, Construction industry, Corruption
Rating: 
0

Allison Hanes – March 12, 2013

Jeremy Morris was arrested Monday night by Quebec’s anti-corruption squad in its investigation into alleged fraud in the contract to build the McGill University Health Centre superhospital, dubbed Project Lauréat.

Morris was apprehended at Trudeau airport after arriving from the Bahamas, the Unité permanente anti-corruption said in a statement.Morris is believed to be a principal with Bahamas-based Sierra Asset Management. He is to appear in court in Montreal Tuesday to be formally charged.

Montreal city hall raided by anti-corruption police

Topics: 
Quebec, Corruption, Municipalities
Rating: 
3

February 19, 2013

Montreal's city hall has been raided by anti-corruption police seeking evidence of fraud and breach of trust. Other offices of the Canadian city and of Union Montreal, former Mayor Gerald Tremblay's party, were also raided.

Mr Tremblay and the mayor of Laval have both stepped down amid allegations related to the construction industry. Further details on the targets of the inquiry were unavailable; A police spokeswoman said the raid was part of a two-year investigation.

Arthur Porter says he is too ill to travel to face Quebec fraud allegations

Topics: 
Corruption, Quebec, Construction industry, CSIS & CSE
Rating: 
3

Jeff Todd And David McFadden – February 28, 2013

Arthur Porter, the former head of Canada’s spy watchdog, says he has late, stage-four cancer and is too ill to travel from the Bahamas to Canada to face investigators over allegations of fraud in one of the country’s priciest infrastructure projects.

Dr. Porter said if Canadian investigators want to question him they should fly to the Bahamas. “I don’t want them to think I would chicken out on anything,” he told The Associated Press during an interview in his home in an upscale, gated community. “So if they want to come here, absolutely no problem.”

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