Two companies fined $450K for illegal donations

OTTAWA — Two companies have agreed to pay almost $450,000 in fines after admitting they made illegal political donations to both the federal Liberals and Conservatives between 2004 and 2009.

Groupe Axor Inc. acknowledged a senior executive, who is no longer employed with the company, asked some employees and their families to make donations totalling $66,237.60, while offering to reimburse them for the contributions, the federal elections commissioner reported Thursday.

A similar scheme was used at Axor Experts-Conseils Inc., totalling $49,721 in donations.

Of that money, $67,418 went to the Liberals and $48,540 to the Conservatives.

In both cases, the companies reimbursed donors through personal expense claims, and in the case of Axor Experts-Conseils Inc., also through bonuses and other benefits.

Because of those reimbursements, the companies acknowledged to the elections watchdog that the donations effectively came from the corporations, which are not allowed to make election contributions in Canada.

Both Montreal-based companies agreed to pay penalties equal to three times the donations and a portion of the investigative costs for the commissioner, who enforces national electoral laws.

Groupe Axor ended up paying $248,712 and Axor Experts-Conseils Inc. paid $199,163, with the money going into federal coffers.

The voluntary agreements mean the companies accept responsibility and commit to pay the fines and take other measures, but do not admit guilt under criminal law.

In a statement Thursday, commissioner Yves Coté said this is the first time his office has used its new power to levy monetary fines on top of getting the donations returned.

The new powers are the result of changes made to Canada’s electoral laws in 2018 and have applied since April.

“To have the ability to impose real consequences as part of these agreements will allow us much greater flexibility and will be extremely useful going forward. Canadians should expect to see us make full use of this new tool from this point on,” Cote said.

The companies have undertaken changes to their internal procedures to ensure compliance with election laws, the agreements say.