UPAC BOSS NOT OUT TO MAKE FRIENDS
Stirring things up comes with the territory, says Lafrenière, who touts his squad’s record
In its six — almost seven — years of existence, Quebec’s Unité permanente anti-corruption has never known a year quite like 2017.
Its operations continued to generate headlines as it carried out new raids, arrested more suspects and some of its early investigations finally came before the courts. But UPAC also found itself at the centre of some of the year’s biggest controversies, including an uproar over leaks about one of its most sensitive probes, outrage over the way it arrested a sitting MNA, Guy Ouellette, the resignation of its second in command due to questions about his past business dealings and a heavily redacted report alleging workplace tensions.
In a sit-down interview the Montreal Gazette before Christmas, Robert Lafrenière, the head of UPAC, touted his police squad’s record and defended stirring things up by saying it comes with the territory. “The job of the anti-corruption commissioner is something that’s not easy. I’m not in this business to make friends,” Lafrenière said. “And if I’m making friends, I’m not doing my job.”
Lafrenière said UPAC’s “excellent” results in 2017 speak for themselves: 48 findings of guilt on charges of fraud, corruption, conspiracy and abuse of confidence; 40 cases before the courts; 77 active criminal probes; 14 files in the hands of prosecutors; and 14 individuals and one company charged.
To put faces to some of those figures: former Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum was found guilty on eight criminal charges in a bribery scheme, sentenced to jail and paroled. And the Faubourg Contrecoeur fraud case, involving former Montreal executive-committee chair Frank Zampino, construction magnate Paolo Catania and others finally came to trial.
While it was underway, Zampino was arrested by UPAC in connection with another matter, the city of Montreal’s allegedly rigged water meter contract.
This is the kind of action Quebecers have come to know UPAC for, since the squad was formed in 2011. But the arrest of Ouellette, himself a former cop and chair of the institutions committee that is seeking to bring more rigour to UPAC, pushed the unit into uncharted waters.
The matter was politically sensitive: a Liberal MNA apprehended as part of a probe into media leaks about Opération Mâchurer, which is in turn investigating possible illegal political financing by the Quebec Liberals involving former premier Jean Charest and party financier Marc Bibeau.
UPAC’s audacious move resulted Premier Philippe Couillard calling on UPAC to explain itself. Lafrenière and his investigators had to defend the tactic of using “bait” in arresting Ouellette. And its seizure of the Liberal MNA’s cellphone, laptop and other documentation has put UPAC on a collision course with the National Assembly over parliamentary privilege.
Since his arrest, Ouellette, who has not been charged with anything, has called the moves against him as a coup meant to prevent him from dishing dirt about UPAC colluding with the Autorité des marchés financiers in the vetting for companies seeking to bid on public contracts.
Lafrenière said he is confident a probe of Ouellette’s allegations by Quebec’s auditor general will turn up nothing untoward. And he insists he has the utmost respect for democracy.
But Lafrenière also acknowledges he will be walking a fine line in 2018, with an election on the horizon in October. While UPAC’s work must continue, he knows there will be those who will want to read into the timing of any actions as voting day nears — just as former FBI director James Comey’s interventions were scrutinized over the email probe of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the U.S. presidential race.
“The 33 days of the official campaign are sacred for the proper functioning of the vote, the proper functioning of democracy. I’ll impose my duty of reserve at that point, a bit like the Charbonneau Commission did,” Lafrenière said, noting the corruption inquiry suspended hearing testimony during the 2014 Quebec campaign, out of respect for the electoral process.
But Lafrenière said UPAC can’t just hit pause for the entire year leading up to the vote.
“It goes with the territory that we disturb things,” said Lafrenière, who is on the record as saying much of the political backlash against UPAC is an attempt by his enemies to oust him.
“I attended a conference in Ukraine at the end of May for the 24 countries of the Eastern Bloc,” he said, recounting an anecdote. “When I told them the number of mayors we’ve arrested, the prison terms, they look at me like, ‘You just have one bodyguard? And I told them, ‘Look, we in Quebec have something that you don’t have. We have the power of the media. We have the fourth estate.’ And that’s what protects us the most.”
Lafrenière praised the news media for getting the ball rolling on probing corruption in Quebec.
“It’s clear that UPAC would not have been created in 2011 if it hadn’t been for investigative reporting in the previous years,” he said. “I appreciate that. It’s part of democracy. It’s very important.”
Since then, various legislative reforms, the Charbonneau Commission, police work, criminal cases and new protocols for awarding contracts have cracked down on corruption that had been festering for years. But Lafrenière said UPAC is as busy as ever.
“In 2017, we had 780 tips, which is 120 more than the previous year,” he said. “You can’t draw a conclusion just by that. But it’s an indication that at least citizens have confidence in UPAC.”