Former political attaché Julie Nadeau, who was part of the staff of former Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) MP Claude Surprenant, admitted her guilt for fraud, use of forgery and perjury, following an investigation of the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC).
She was sentenced to 15 months’ suspended imprisonment, a 3-year probation order and a fine of $2,400, according to UPAC in a press release on Tuesday.
UPAC reports that between August 2014 and December 2015, Julie Nadeau, who was in charge of the accounting of the constituency office of MP Surprenant, embezzled sums totaling more than $8,000 from the bank account of the MP’s office. Groulx constituency to his personal account. Furthermore, the UPAC investigation demonstrated that Mme Nadeau had presented falsified medical documents in order to benefit from a prolonged work stoppage, between February and December 2016.
After being dismissed by Mr. Surprenant, Julie Nadeau initiated proceedings before the Administrative Labor Tribunal, considering that she had been dismissed without just and sufficient cause.
During this trial, during his testimony under oath between 2018 and 2021, Mme Nadeau perjured herself several times by claiming to hold a bachelor’s degree in law, then a multidisciplinary bachelor’s degree and a law certificate. UPAC reports that after verifications, Mme Nadeau does not hold any university degree.
The Court concluded, on February 23, 2022, that the faults committed by Mme Nadeau were serious and that they broke the bond of trust between her and the MP.
As for Claude Surprenant, he was elected deputy for Groulx, in the Basses-Laurentides, in 2014, and sat as an independent from January 24, 2017, when he was expelled from the CAQ caucus due to irregularities in its expenses.