Former security-firm boss Coretti accused of defrauding police co-op
The indictment filed against Luigi Coretti alleges the former head of a now-bankrupt security firm committed fraud against a police-run credit union while trying to keep his own business afloat.
On June 25, the Sûreté du Québec arrested the former head of the Canadian Bureau of Investigations and Adjustments (CBIA), which went bankrupt in 2010, and released him the same day on a promise to appear in court at a later date.
At the time, the provincial police provided few details about their case against Coretti, 46, who had already been part of an investigation that produced criminal charges last year against Tony Tomassi, a former minister in the provincial Liberal government.
However, police recently released court documents filed with the indictment that reveal details on five charges Coretti will face when his case comes to court on Sept. 4.
They allege that from 2008 to 2010, he defrauded three institutions under the umbrella of Desjardins Group, or Mouvement Desjardins, the province’s large credit union.
They include the Caisse Desjardins des policiers et policières, a credit union that specializes in financial services and investments for police officers. In April, the police credit union, run by several experienced police investigators, reported a return of $1.7 million for its members for 2011.
Through his security firm, Coretti developed contacts with police in Quebec and hired several retired investigators to work for him. CBIA also provided security for the Montreal police at its headquarters on St. Urbain St. from 2007 to 2010. In June 2010, former Montreal police chief Yvan Delorme was called before the city council public-security committee to explain how CBIA secured the work without a public tender.
Delorme, who had announced his early resignation a month earlier, told the committee that CBIA was shown no favouritism and attributed the failure to call for tenders to administrative errors.
The charges also allege Coretti committed fraud against a Caisse Desjardins branch in St. Léonard and the Caisse centrale Desjardins, the financial agent of Mouvement Desjardins, in order to obtain financing. The fraud charge carries a maximum 14-year prison term upon conviction.
On Sept. 28, 2010, Mouvement Desjardins issued a statement saying it had filed a criminal complaint against CBIA after seeing the results of an audit it commissioned into the security firm. Mouvement Desjardins and Investissement Québec, a provincial government financing agency, reportedly lost more than $10 million through loans made to CBIA.
Coretti is also charged with making “false statements in writing” to secure financing for four companies of which he is still listed as president. He is also alleged to have incited CBIA employees to create fake documents.
According to a court document filed with the indictment, Coretti agreed to not communicate with eight specific people “and all other CBIA accounting employees” in order to secure his release.
He is also accused of having produced counterfeit documents between 2005 and 2010.
In 2010, Tomassi, 41, whom Coretti has described as a friend, was fired from his cabinet post as family minister and dropped from the Liberal caucus when it was revealed the SQ was investigating him for an alleged breach of trust involving a gasoline credit card Coretti gave him. In October 2011, Tomassi was charged with breach of trust.