The former CEO of a Montreal consulting engineering firm, Bernard Poulin, pleaded guilty Friday to violating the Elections Act with a scheme of illegal donations to federal political parties.
He did not appear at the Montreal courthouse to enter his guilty pleas and his lawyer did so in his place.
Mr. Poulin had been accused in 2020 of having solicited political contributions from his employees – between January 1, 2004 and June 11, 2009 – by subsequently offering them a reimbursement by his consulting engineering firm. SM International Group. It is illegal to conceal the identity of the author of a political contribution under the Canada Elections Act.
Initially, he faced five charges for contributions, but on Friday morning the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) withdrew three.
For the other two counts, Bernard Poulin was fined a total of $3,750, plus costs. It was a joint suggestion by the defense and the PPSC that Judge Marie-Josée Di Lallo of the Court of Quebec endorsed.
Bernard Poulin thus avoids a trial which was to last four days in February.
Groupe SM International was also raided in 2015 by UPAC in connection with the water meter scandal in the City of Montreal. Bernard Poulin was arrested in 2017, the same day as the former president of the executive committee of the City of Montreal, Frank Zampino.
Although the sum of $3,750 that he must pay is not very high, he nevertheless requested a delay of six months in order to be able to pay it. The man declared bankruptcy in 2020.
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