Quebec’s anti-corruption unit, UPAC, says it is working on recruiting more investigators and rebuilding trust in the public after announcing its latest failed investigation last week.
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The commissioner of UPAC doesn’t hold press conferences often, so Wednesday afternoon the presentation of the UPAC annual report was highly anticipated.
Many hoped the newly-appointed commissioner, Frédérick Gaudreau, would finally address the reason why last week he put an abrupt end to an important fraud case, called Justesse (justice), involving a Crown corporation.
“UPAC is an independent organization, so I cannot dictate what they have to do or not, but like many Quebecers, I would like to have more answers about what happened,” said Quebec Premier François Legault.
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The Justesse investigation was opened in 2010 to look into alleged fraud committed by Liberal Party fundraisers in the sale and rental of properties owned by the Société immobilière du Québec (SIQ).
“We’re trying to understand why, again, there is no accusation because apparently it was the biggest case of fraud in history,” said Quebec Solidaire MNA Vincent Marissal.
Wednesday afternoon, Gaudreau offered a brief explanation.
“There’s a lot of reasons why we decide to pull the plug on an investigation. Without telling the techniques we have used, my first concern is the quality of the investigation,” he said.
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Gaudreau says the case law has changed and police techniques UPAC investigators used earlier on would no longer hold up in court.
“I understand people who are… losing faith in our organization, but it’s the same for all police organizations and our justice system in its globality,” he said.
Gaudreau said that while Justesse has been canned, the Mâchurer investigation, that has been linked to the former premier, Jean Charest is still ongoing.
He also revealed that UPAC made 11 criminal arrests this year.
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