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Quebec’s anti-corruption squad makes another superhospital fraud arrest

Police officer on the UPAC squad entering Laval city hall. Mario Beauregard/The Canadian Press

MONTREAL – Quebec’s anti-corruption police squad (UPAC) made a sixth fraud arrest Wednesday in connection to the awarding of contracts and the construction of the McGill superhospital in Montreal.

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) has confirmed that Elbaz, a lawyer, worked on “external consulting mandates” from 2009 to October 2011. Yohann Elbaz faces 16 charges, including fraud and money-laundering related to the awarding of contracts by the MUHC’s public-private partnership.

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In February, UPAC issued arrest warrants for Elbaz’s brother, Yanai, a former MUHC director; Arthur Porter, the former head of the MUHC; Pierre Duhaime, the former CEO of SNC-Lavalin; Riadh Ben Aïssa, a former SNC-Lavalin employee, and Jeremy Morris. All five are facing charges related to alleged fraud, breach of trust and laundering the proceeds of a crime.

“The MUHC has learned today that he has been arrested in relation to the awarding of the public-private partnership (PPP) contract for the Glen site,” the MUHC noted in a statement.

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“As we have done in the past, we will continue to collaborate with the authorities . . . [who] have made it clear that neither current employee nor the institution itself are under investigation.”

Yohann Elbaz is expected to appear in court on May 23.

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