Secretary denies knowledge of suspicious transactions
But she recalls receiving envelopes stuffed with cash for boss
“I’m just a secretary, … I didn’t ask any questions. … It didn’t worry me.”
RAYMONDE LEFEBVRE
After a failed attempt by her lawyer to stop her testimony before it even began, a Montreal-based secretary took the stand at the Charbonneau Commission on Wednesday and denied knowing anything about suspicious financial transactions involving her former employer.
Raymonde Lefebvre was employed by Fortier Transfert, a company specializing in construction cranes that was later bought out by Grues Guay, from 2000 until 2005.
Despite the fact that she was responsible for receiving and depositing cheques on behalf of her employer, Louis-Pierre Lafortune, Lefebvre could offer few useful answers on the stand Wednesday.
The gaps in her memory were numerous — something she blamed on the fact that 10 years have elapsed since she worked for Lafortune and his partner, Yannick Payette.
“I’m just a secretary,” the witness repeated several times.
Among other things, she denied knowing anything about cheques being deposited into an account belonging to DV Capital, a company owned by Hells Angels-linked businessman Denis Vincent. She also denied ever meeting Vincent.
One thing Lefebvre did recall, however, was receiving two envelopes stuffed with a total of $200,000 in cash, allegedly destined for Lafortune.
The witness said she could not identify the person who dropped the money off. She simply signed a paper indicating she had received it, she said, then put it in her desk so Lafortune could collect it.
“I didn’t ask any questions. … It didn’t worry me,” she said. Lefebvre also denied that she had initially tried to hide her knowledge of the cash payment from investigators.
“I just didn’t remember (receiving it),” she explained.
Earlier in the day, the Charbonneau Commission sat through a familiar tale involving a construction entrepreneur who was seduced by promises of big profits and instead ended up bankrupt and in trouble with the taxman.
Richard Bellavance had already filed for bankruptcy once in the early 2000s and was regaining his footing in the construction industry in 2003 when he was allegedly approached by an accountant named Clément Desrochers.
Bellavance told the commissioners on Wednesday that Desrochers was looking for someone to help out one of his business associates — identified as Normand Dubois. In particular, Bellavance explained, Desrochers and Dubois were interested in getting about 50 workers onto the payroll at Bellavance’s new company, RicheLieu. The firm was essentially “dormant” at the time, the witness testified, but it did have a licence to do business in Quebec. Bellavance agreed to hire the workers, he said, and Desrochers promised there would be work for the company in the form of upcoming contracts.
Bellavance quickly began to lose control, however. Within a year, he had agreed to allow Desrochers to substitute his signature on company cheques with a stamp, and he could no longer access many of Riche-Lieu’s bank accounts.
Bellavance soon discovered that he wasn’t the only businessman to be lured in by the accountant’s promises. Other companies (and their bank accounts) were also being controlled out of an office in Laval, allegedly with Dubois’s help. By 2004, Bellavance said he no longer had any control of his own company, and he had no idea if Riche-Lieu was making a profit or was deep in debt.
When Revenue Quebec asked to see his financial records that year, he referred the government officials to Desrochers.
As the financial troubles mounted, Bellavance said he approached Desrochers, who told him: “You stay quiet and nothing will happen to you or your family.”
In the end, Construction RicheLieu went bankrupt and Bellavance was right back where he started. He is now being pursued by Revenue Quebec for up to $2 million.
Dubois, meanwhile, was arrested last week and charged in connection with a provincial police investigation dubbed “Garot.”
The inquiry’s hearings are expected to resume under a publication ban on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m.