GREEN PARTY
LARAQUE
Georges Laraque, deputy leader of the Green Party, fended off an accusation of fraud Monday.
OTTAWA — Georges Laraque, the former NHL player turned deputy leader of the Green Party, fended off an accusation of fraud Monday, pointing a finger at his Canadian partner instead.
Florida-based Global Synthetic Ice announced Monday that Laraque’s company, Super-Glide Canada, has been dropped as a distributor after an internal investigation revealed “unethical business practices” involving $54,000 worth of funds and products.
Company president Perry Boskus said he decided to sever ties with Super-Glide based on allegations of fraud from Laraque’s partner Marc Filion. Filion and Laraque are both listed as directors of Super-Glide Canada, which was the Canadian distributor of artificial ice-skating surfaces manufactured by Global Synthetic Ice.
Filion could not imme- diately be reached for comment.
“Things weren’t adding up correctly,” Boskus told the Ottawa Citizen. “We want to wash our hands of this thing.”
While only Laraque was mentioned in the press release, he told the Citizen that he is suing his “ex-business partner” Filion and that the details of the case will come out in court.
“There’s a fraud that’s been done internally,” Laraque said. “That fraud is obviously not good for the face of the company (Global Synthetic Ice).”
Laraque became a distributor of the artificial ice because he supported the “green technology,” he said.
“I wasn’t doing that for revenue. I was doing it for fun,” he said. “That company has used me and my contacts with the NHL to sell rinks.”
Laraque, 35, has had a diverse career which includes professional sport, philanthropy, politics and business.
The Montreal native was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1995. He ended his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens in 2010 and joined the Green Party of Canada as deputy leader that summer.
Laraque shrugged off the end of his business venture as a distributor of artificial ice in Canada, but emphasized that he had not committed fraud.
Boskus said he was made aware of the “unethical business practices” at SuperGlide Canada three weeks ago and has since provided details to police in Canada and the United States. In one instance, Boskus said a $43,000 refund was issued by Global Synthetic Ice, but he said “problems (with the product) were greatly exaggerated.” The customer did not even receive that money, Boskus added.
“We lost a lot of money on that deal,” Boskus said.
However, Laraque said Super-Glide did not receive that money from Boskus — that instead it was a rebate that reduced the overall cost of an invoice.