Cop charged with fraud sues SQ investigators, prosecutors

A Sûreté du Québec officer accused of fraud is suing the officers who investigated him and the prosecutors who charged him.

Nicolas Landry was charged with fraud in August 2015. Prosecutors alleged that he lied about his health to remain on sick leave while working another job.

He’s suing the SQ and the Quebec office of criminal prosecutions (DPCP) for more than $2 million.

In two lawsuits filed at the Montreal courthouse on Friday, Landry maintains that the SQ — his employer — investigated him unfairly.

Landry is an SQ officer who worked with the organization’s organized crime unit since 2009. According to the lawsuits, he was the victim of workplace harassment. He was diagnosed with psychological issues by multiple doctors and placed on sick leave.

In April and May of 2014, the SQ hired a private investigator to stake out Landry ’s home under the suspicion that he may have another job. They also interviewed his neighbours and other people close to him, and came to the conclusion he was lying to his doctors about his medical state.

At that time, Landry was a shareholder in a snow-removal company. His father and girlfriend were also shareholders in a travel agency that was being run from Landry ’s home, according to court documents.

After their investigation, the lawsuit alleges the SQ tried unsuccessfully multiple times to charge Landry criminally before finding a prosecutor to take the case.

The lawsuit says the SQ didn’t conduct their investigation objectively and that the investigators’ only goal was to “make (Landry) lose his job and to charge him with fraud.”

“The evidence offered (against Landry) is not of a nature that lends itself to a criminal prosecution,” it says.

During the investigation into his activities, several people cancelled their snow removal contracts with Landry’s company.

Landry said he sustained psychological damage as a result of the investigation and the charges against him. Part of the $2 million he’s seeking from the DPCP and the SQ is a request for $273,000 as a result of the losses sustained by his business venture.

Landry ’s criminal trial begins on Thursday and is expected to last for weeks.

He’s still employed by the Sûreté du Québec.