Court hears Accurso’s motion
Construction magnate says Charbonneau Commission faces conflict of interest
If Antonio Accurso doesn’t want to appear before the provincial commission into corruption and collusion in the construction industry, he should make his case before that commission and not Quebec Superior Court, a lawyer argued Tuesday.
Erika Porter, prosecutor for the Charbonneau Commission, said the commission’s namesake, Justice France Charbonneau, is impartial and independent so is in a position to rule on a motion for exemption.
But Louis Belleau, the lawyer representing Accurso, told Quebec Superior Court Tuesday that the commission would be in a conflict of interest if it hears the motion for exemption because it wants Accurso’s testimony.
Accurso, a former construction magnate, claims that the provincial government set up the Charbonneau Commission to target him specifically, and cites debates from the National Assembly in which his name was raised.
He also claims that several
Since hearings began in May 2012, Accurso and his companies have come up repeatedly at the Charbonneau Commission, including allegations they colluded to win contracts.
In 2010, Louisbourg SBC and Simard-Beaudry, which Accurso owned at the time, pleaded guilty to evading $4 million in federal taxes.
In April 2012, the province’s anti-corruption squad, UPAC, arrested Accurso, along with
“Commission investigators took advantage of (Accurso’s) arrest to try to convince him to co-operate with them.”
MOTION FOR EXEMPTION FILED BY ANTONIO ACCURSO
police forces and commission investigators are working together to intimidate him into co-operating with the commission.
Superior Court Justice Jean-François Buffoni, who heard arguments Tuesday on who should rule on the motion, didn’t say when he’d render a decision. Mascouche mayor Richard Marcotte and 15 others, and laid charges of fraud, breach of trust and corruption. In August 2012, the RCMP arrested Accurso and a handful of former Canada Revenue Agency employees and charged them with conspiracy, fraud, forgery and breach of trust. Accurso also faces hundreds of charges laid in June by Revenue Quebec.
The motion says that when Accurso was arrested in April 2012, under a warrant issued by the RCMP, he was taken to Sûreté du Québec headquarters, where he was detained for seven hours and interrogated by UPAC, SQ and RCMP investigators.
The motion claims he was then taken to another room and told there were people “who wanted to meet him.”
Two investigators from the Charbonneau Commission then entered the room, the motion says, and told him the media attention around his arrest wouldn’t be beneficial to him and it would be preferable if he voluntarily gave information to the commission.
“Commission investigators, who have no power to detain someone, took advantage of his arrest and long detention to try to convince him to co-operate with them,” the motion says.
smontgomery@ montrealgazette.com