Quebec Anti-Corruption Arrests 37, Former Mayor Charged With Gangsterism

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Quebec police investigators have charged former mayor, Mr. Vaillancourt, with an extraordinarily unusual charge of gangsterism in a corruption case. The province’s special provincial anti-corruption squad, UPAC, announced to have arrested 37 people including former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancour, who was taken into custody on Thursday morning. Mr. Vaillancourt is scheduled to appear at the Laval courthouse on Thursday afternoon.

The latest crackdown in the investigation, dubbed as Project Honorer, was conducted with cooperation of almost 120 officers. UPAC commissioner, Robert Lafrenière, informed reporters that the accused were part of an “organized, structured network,” while alleging that “these are extremely serious accusations.” Other charges laid against former mayor include fraud, fraud against government, breach of trust, conspiracy, municipal corruption and money laundering. The Surete du Quebec mentioned in a press statement, that “the investigation permitted us to demonstrate that the group of individuals targetted by the investigation operated a system of collusion and organized corruption that corresponds to the charges of gangsterism.”

Mr. Lafrenière alleged that the three-year investigation revealed that there were three groups of people involved in the alleged scheme. The first were entrepreneurs and engineers, while second were lawyers, including a notary and a businessman who acted as facilitators, and the last being public-office holders, including the mayor, the city general manager and the general manager for engineering. Mr. Lafrenière explained that the investigation involved meeting 150 witnesses, obtaining more than 160 judicial authorizations, conducting 70 search warrants, intercepting more than 30,000 electronic conversations and recovering more than $480,000 dollars in cash.