Quebec union boss said Mob wanted control of investment fund

MONTREAL – The former president of the Quebec Federation of Labour said he was told that organized crime was plotting to take over the union’s billion-dollar investment fund.

Michel Arsenault told Quebec’s corruption inquiry on Tuesday that he took the Mob warning with a grain of salt and never feared for his safety.

He said that the notice came from construction magnate Tony Accurso, who told him about an attempt to usurp his position at the helm of the union and the investment fund because he wasn’t pushing their projects.

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Arsenault said he believes now that organized crime tried to access the fund through Jocelyn Dupuis, a former construction wing boss who was friendly with several people with criminal ties.

The former union boss said organized crime infiltrating the union’s Solidarity Fund is the worst thing that could have happened.

But Arsenault said that the push never materialized and he believes the fund is now insulated from organized crime’s reach after changes to the structure and rules were made in 2009.