SQ fund might have been used improperly

A special fund used by the Sûreté du Québec to pay secret informants might have also been used to bankroll staff departure bonuses along with payment to an outside consultant who wanted to be shielded from tax authorities, Stéphane Bergeron, Quebec’s minister of public security, said Wednesday.

“The facts alleged are extremely troubling,” the minister said in Quebec City. He cited Article 122 of the federal Criminal Code. Under that provision, any public officer judged guilty of breach of trust or fraud can be sentenced to a prison term not exceeding five years.

No criminal charges have been laid, and none of the allegations have been aired or proved in court.

The provincial force confirmed earlier two of its officers have been “relieved of their duties” and are being investigated for allegations of “inappropriate use of special-operations funds.”

Neither the minister nor SQ spokesman Sgt. Claude Denis, would confirm a report by La Presse that the officers in question are Richard Deschesnes and Jean Audette.

Until e a rly October, Deschesnes had been chief of the force. He left in an abrupt fashion almost nine months before his five-year term had been slated to expire.

Audette had been one of the top managers in the SQ criminal-investigations unit.

A third person, also under investigation, is a retired SQ officer, Denis said. The La Presse report identified him as Steven Chabot, another former senior criminal investigator who retired in March 2010.