Quebec's anti-corruption squad ends probe into Liberal Party fundraising
CBC
Quebec's anti-corruption unit (UPAC) has officially wrapped up its lengthy investigation of Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) financing, UPAC commissioner Frédérick Gaudreau said in a statement Monday.
No one has ever been charged in relation to the five-year probe, known as the Mâchurer investigation.
The announcement comes as former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest, who was among the senior Liberal Party brass investigated by UPAC, is considering a run at the federal Conservative leadership.
The former premier is suing the Coalition Avenir Québec government for violation of his privacy, alleging police leaked information related to the investigation to the media.
The Mâchurer investigation focused on the methods of financing the Liberal Party of Quebec between 2001 and 2012, looking into possible links between fundraising activities and the granting of public contracts.
The investigation, which began in April 2014, was extensive and involved more than 300 witnesses, UPAC said in its statement.
In 2019, UPAC presented its body of evidence to the Quebec Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), which turned over its analysis in December 2020 to a review committee chaired by a retired Quebec Court of Appeal justice, André Rochon.
"Considering the legal opinion obtained, as well as all the rigour and the resources already invested in this investigation, the commissioner finds there is no reason to prosecute the latter and therefore puts an end to it," UPAC said in the statement.
"In order not to harm ongoing legal proceedings, and given the obligations of confidentiality applicable to the content of police investigation files, the commissioner must refrain from any other comment."
The DPCP also declined to comment on the matter Monday, citing solicitor-client privilege.
Lawyers for Charest recently asked a judge to speed up the delivery of documents Charest requested for use in his lawsuit, which he launched in October 2020.
The former premier doubled his original claim against the government for $1 million to $2 million last November, after the deputy premier, Geneviève Guilbault, waved around in Question Period a copy of the book PLQ inc., with a photo of Charest on its cover.
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