MONTREAL – Tony Tomassi, a former minister in the Liberal government of Jean Charest, is facing the possibility of a five-year prison term after criminal charges were filed against him in Quebec City on Tuesday.
Tomassi, still a member of the National Assembly, was issued a summons informing him a criminal case brought against him will begin on Nov. 14.
An indictment alleges he committed two counts of fraud as an elected member of the government, as well as one count of breach of trust.
All three charges carry a maximum five-year prison term upon conviction.
The breach of trust charge involves a period that stretched from July 1, 2006 to May 6, 2010.
Tomassi first earned a seat in the National Assembly, representing the Lafontaine riding in eastern Montreal, in 2003. He was family minister from Dec. 18, 2008 until he was fired on May 6, 2010. He currently sits as an independent.
Tomassi has been criticized by his constituents for his frequent absences in the National Assembly following the revelations that appear to be at the heart of the charges filed against him.
One of the fraud charges alleges that he accepted “a loan, a reward or a benefit” from Luigi Coretti, the president of the security firm BCIA, in exchange for influence.
BCIA, the French acronym for the Canadian Bureau of Investigations, has since gone bankrupt. In May 2010, Tomassi was fired as family minister after Charest learned he had used a gas credit card supplied by BCIA.
A few months after Tomassi was fired, Coretti told reporters he gave Tomassi the gas card because he considered him a friend.
In June, after an investigation into whether Tomassi’s riding association broke the province’s party-financing law, Quebec’s chief electoral officer cleared Tomassi of wrongdoing, saying BCIA did not give him or the Liberal Party money in exchange for tickets to fundraisers.
The Gazette was unable to reach Tomassi for a comment on Tuesday, and lawyers who have represented him in civil court said they did not know who his lawyer might be in the criminal case.
After the summons was made public at the Quebec City courthouse, Robert Lafrenière, head of Quebec’s permanent anti-corruption unit, issued a release stating the charges were produced following an investigation by the Operation Hammer squad, which is overseen by Lafrenière’s unit.
“In this case, the investigation continues and it is not impossible that other people could face justice,” Lafrenière said in the release.
Lafrenière said there would be no further comment on the case while it is before the courts.
It was unclear Tuesday whether Tomassi will be required to appear in person when the case is brought to court on Nov. 14. A person accused by summons is often allowed to be represented by a lawyer at the first court date.
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