Investigators looking into allegations of misconduct at the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) have collected explosive testimonies on how the organization was run during the time of Robert Lafrenière.
• Read also: UPAC bosses suspected of serious misconduct
We reproduce in the following pages six of these revelations.
They are contained in documents presented in 2020 to Judge André Perreault, as part of the legal proceedings which notably targeted the former ministers Nathalie Normandeau and Marc-Yvan Côté, then accused of fraud and corruption.
Judge Perreault ordered a stay of proceedings against the former ministers, finding that Robert Lafrenière and some of his associates had committed “serious misconduct” by setting up a “bogus investigation”, Project A.
To date, no charges have been brought in the Oath file.
Again yesterday, Mr. Lafrenière did not return our calls. In recent days, however, he assured in interviews with Radio-Canada and La Presse that he had always done his job with integrity and that he had nothing to reproach himself for.
1) Lafrenière was afraid to go “pass the mop”
Former UPAC boss Robert Lafrenière was terrified that we would discover that he had secretly spoken to a journalist from La Presse to denounce the slowness of the work of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP).
2) A beer at Lafrenière
While spinning, two police officers involved in the investigation of media leaks at UPAC were “summoned” to a meeting at the personal residence of commissioner Robert Lafrenière.
3) “It’s our lies”
The DPCP’s decision in September 2018 not to contest a request by MP Guy Ouellette to recover his seized property sent shock waves through UPAC, to the point of bringing its spokesperson Anne-Frédérick Laurence to tears. .
4) The Crown and the police had doubts
Both the Crown and the Quebec police had serious doubts about the investigation launched by the former boss of UPAC to discover the author of leaks in the media, an investigation which is now described as “bogus” by a judge of the Court of Quebec.
5) Documents on the Mâchurer investigation forgotten in the toilet
In December 2016, an investigator-analyst at UPAC found confidential documents from the Mâchurer investigation that had been forgotten… in a bathroom.
6) Normandeau’s arrest accelerated
The arrests of former ministers Nathalie Normandeau and Marc-Yvan Côté, which occurred the same day the budget was tabled, were reportedly rushed at the request of Commissioner Robert Lafrenière when the investigators were not ready.
