UPAC: Major corruption scandals over, but many smaller fraud schemes remain

Quebec Anti-Corruption Commissioner Frederick Gaudreau unveils his annual report at a news conference, Tuesday, October 24, 2023 in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Karoline Boucher

The Charbonneau Commission might have brought an end to major corruption and collusion schemes in the construction industry, but they have multiplied on a smaller scale in several other sectors, according to the head of Quebec's anti-corruption squad.

"Now it's more subtle; people are hiding their actions more. (...) But we can also see that corrupt practices have spread to other areas, such as IT, health, school service centres, and many other environments where we find smaller-scale schemes," explained Quebec's anti-corruption commissioner, Frédérick Gaudreau.

Gaudreau, head of the permanent anti-corruption squad (UPAC), presented the organization's balance sheet for 2022-2023 on Tuesday in Quebec City, but also for the past five years since UPAC became a full-fledged police force in 2018.

'THERE ARE STILL ENVELOPES'

In the construction sector, Gaudreau said elaborate large-scale operations involving construction and engineering firms as well as municipal officials and politicians -- such as the one in Laval during convicted mayor Gilles Vaillancourt's administration -- "are schemes we don't see anymore."

However, "there are contracts awarded in certain municipalities or in certain school service centres or in the health sector. There are still cases today where people transfer envelopes to each other to eventually get a contract, to be favoured in a call for tenders," he said.

Gaudreau's report shows that, over the past five years, 259 people have been charged due to UPAC investigations, 57 of whom have been convicted. However, the slow judicial process has delayed many of the cases.

A 91 PER CENT SUCCESS RATE

In fact, of the 57 defendants convicted, 17 were charged before 2018. Over the past five years, only 44 out of 259 cases have gone through the entire judicial process, and 40 have resulted in convictions - a 91 per cent success rate. Three cases ended in a stay of proceedings, and one was settled by "alternative measures."

This year alone, 231 charges were laid by the Crown (DPCP), "the best record since the creation of UPAC." There were 35 convictions (included in the 57 mentioned above), representing a 46 per cent increase over the previous year.

Mandated since 2022 to conduct audits of companies, UPAC submitted nearly 800 reports to the public market authority in nine months. Its independent audit unit of the Quebec Construction Commission claimed more than 32,000 undeclared hours, for a total of $860,000.

NEW EXPERTISE

Gaudreau said he's proud of his police force's work, which he believes demonstrates that "the commissioner and the permanent anti-corruption squad are relevant to Quebec."

He says corruption cases require "an organization like ours: permanent, autonomous and not tied to the police emergency of the day."

Thanks to legislative changes introduced in 2022 that broadened its access, UPAC has hired investigators with training and experience in IT, accounting, finance and administration - crucial expertise that other police forces envy, said Gaudreau.

He expects that, in the coming years, the police force will be "in a position to gain in efficiency, precisely because we have recruited people with a different profile and a different vision."

That will be more necessary than ever, he said, because of technological advances that criminals can take advantage of.

"The more it evolves, the more we try to keep up to date with it, but I won't be hiding. It's indeed a challenge in terms of knowledge, but also in terms of acquiring this equipment."

On the administrative front, UPAC has managed to reduce the time it takes to process files from 62 days five years ago to an average of nine days now.

NO APOLOGIES FOR JEAN CHAREST

Gaudreau rejected outright the possibility of apologizing to former premier Jean Charest for the leak of his personal information during the UPAC's Mâchurer investigation, which ultimately led to nothing, despite an eight-year investigation. Last April, Superior Court Judge Gregory Moore found UPAC guilty of "gross negligence" and ordered the government to pay him $385,000 in compensation.

"I stand by it, so it's over for me," said Gaudreau. Pressed further by journalists, he offered a categorical and final "no."

In 2021, however, UPAC offered a public apology in a press conference to former MNA Guy Ouellet for his "unjustified" arrest in 2017. Gaudreau explained that, in Ouellet's case, "it follows an agreement, and it was my duty to do so in (this) file, whereas, in the other (Charest's), it's a file that was handled before the courts, therefore before a judge who rendered a decision. It's different," he said.

Following Moore's decision, Charest went to court in May to claim another $717,000 in punitive and moral damages.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 24, 2023.