Accurso should remain in prison pending appeals, Crown argues
Jailed construction magnate Tony Accurso is expected to find out this week whether he will remain imprisoned while appealing his recent conviction and prison sentence.
Last month, a jury found Accurso, 66, actively participated in a system of collusion created and run by former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt between 1996 and 2010.
The jury convicted Accurso on all five of the corruption-related charges he faced. Last week, Quebec Superior Court Justice James Brunton handed down a four-year prison sentence.
His lawyer, Marc Labelle, argues Accurso should be released while his appeals are pending.
But during a hearing before Quebec’s Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Magali Cimon objected to the idea. The prosecutor questioned certain aspects of the request and argued Accurso being allowed out of jail could undermine the public’s confidence in the justice system.
Cimon recalled how Brunton described the case while sentencing Accurso: one of the worst examples of municipal corruption ever seen in Canada.
“These are serious offences,” Cimon argued. “A crime that lasted for 14 years.”
Labelle, for his part, argued Accurso doesn’t work in the construction industry anymore and is no longer heading the “litigious companies” in question. He said the crimes are economic in nature, not violent, and date back to2010.
Labelle also said Accurso is willing to post a $150,000 bond as part of his release — $50,000 from Accurso, $75,000 from his son and an additional $25,000 from a close friend.
Quebec Court of Appeal Judge Manon Savard, who oversaw Tuesday’s hearing, is expected to render her decision on the matter this week.
After a lengthy trial, Accurso was sentenced to serve a 48-month prison term for his two fraud-related charges. He was also ordered to serve 30-month sentences, concurrently, for conspiring to corrupt municipal officials, municipal corruption and breach of trust.
While testifying in his defence during his trial, Accurso had claimed he had no knowledge that two of his companies — Louisbourg Construction and Simard-Beaudry Inc. — were the two biggest colluding companies to take part in a scheme revealed by Quebec’s anti-corruption unit.
As part of the request seeking his release, Accurso argued he wants to be free while he deals with his other legal woes, including two impaired driving-related cases he faces at the municipal courthouse in Deux-Montagnes, where he resides.
He also still faces fraud and breach of trust charges that were filed against him, a former Canada Revenue Agency employee and two other men in 2012 following an investigation by the RCMP.
That case is scheduled to return to court on Thursday. Accurso has pleaded not guilty to all six of the charges he faces.
These are serious offences. A crime that lasted for 14 years.