PANAMA CITY – Quebec’s anti-corruption unit has confirmed the death of suspected fraudster Arthur Porter.
The unit said in a statement Tuesday that visual identification of the body in Panama was sufficient evidence to confirm the death.
DNA tests and fingerprint analysis were also conducted as a precaution.
Officers viewed the body Monday at a morgue in Panama, but had to wait until Tuesday for DNA and fingerprint analysis to positively identify the body.
READ MORE: Crown prosecutor says she wants hard evidence Arthur Porter is dead
News that the 59-year-old Porter had died last week was treated with heavy scepticism by provincial authorities due to his fraud charges.
Quebec sent two investigators to Panama last Friday to gather evidence that would prove he had died.
READ MORE: Arthur Porter dies in Panama hospital, biographer says
Porter’s biographer, doctor and relatives had said he succumbed to cancer in Panama, where he’d been detained since May 2013.
The former head of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) was one of several people facing charges stemming from the awarding of a $1.3-billion contract to build the superhospital in Montreal, which officially opened this year.
Robert Lafrenière, head of the anti-corruption unit, said the fraud charges will be dropped.
READ MORE: Pamela Porter released from jail
Porter had denied any wrongdoing as he fought extradition to Canada from a Panamanian prison.
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