Accurso gets away with it

After years of legal proceedings, Tony Accurso gets away with it: the fallen construction giant will pay only a few tens of millions to reimburse the cities of Montreal and Laval, as well as the Quebec and Canadian tax authorities, who demanded more 200 million in total.

Isabelle Ducas
The Press

Montreal was suing the businessman and his companies for 44 million, jointly with the former chairman of the city’s executive committee, Frank Zampino. Laval claimed 85 million from Tony Accurso and his companies.

The controversial entrepreneur also had pending tax claims with Revenu Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency.

According to our information, he would have concluded agreements to settle all these disputes, for a fraction of the amounts requested.

The City of Montreal confirmed that its executive committee had ratified Wednesday, behind closed doors, an agreement in principle with Tony Accurso. “This is an out-of-court agreement that is confidential,” simply indicated Marikym Gaudreault, press officer for the executive committee.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the contractor would have done the same for the other claims. All that remains is to agree on the terms of payment.

collusion

Montreal filed a 30 million lawsuit in 2019 against Tony Accurso and Frank Zampino, in connection with collusion in the construction industry, in order to recover public funds that would have been overpaid.

In the early 2000s, contractors colluded to rig bids for sewers, water pipes, asphalt, sidewalks and other major projects, the authorities argued. Montreal lawyers.

The City’s evidence was based on the voluminous report of the Charbonneau commission, on documents from the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) and on journalistic investigations by The Press published in 2009.

These investigations had revealed in particular the links between MM. Accurso and Zampino, including the trips of the former number two for the City of Montreal on the entrepreneur’s luxury yacht, the Touch.

In September 2018, a first lawsuit of 14 million had been brought by the City against the two men, in connection with the collusion which had inflated the price of the contract of the water meters.

Laval, for its part, had brought its lawsuit in 2016 against Tony Accurso, his companies and their leaders. The former director of the city’s engineering department, Claude de Guise, was also targeted.

According to court documents seen by The Pressthe sum claimed now stood at 85 million.

Criminal charges

In 2020, Tony Accurso and four of his companies pleaded guilty to criminal charges of tax evasion and were fined $4.2 million, following an investigation by Revenu Québec in collaboration with the Unit permanent anti-corruption (UPAC).

An agreement would therefore have been made with the Quebec tax authorities for the reimbursement of these fines.

This conviction targeted three types of fraud.

First, shell companies would have produced false invoices for years, which would have made it possible to request false tax refunds for companies linked to Mr. Accurso.

In addition, the Louisbourg company, which was part of the Accurso empire, would have paid significant personal expenses to finance the luxurious lifestyle of the entrepreneur, accounting for these as business expenses.

Tony Accurso would also have failed to declare to the tax authorities personal income of more than 7 million.

The businessman faced criminal charges in three other cases. In one case, he was acquitted in 2018 of having contributed to a breach of trust, for facts that had occurred in Mascouche.

Then, last year, he benefited from a stay of proceedings due to unreasonable delays, when he was accused of having benefited from a system of corruption at the Canada Revenue Agency, with the help from officials.

Finally, following Project Honorer, a UPAC investigation into corruption in the City of Laval, Mr. Accurso was found guilty, but he appealed the verdict. A decision from the Court of Appeal is expected shortly in this case.

With Yves Boisvert, Daniel Renaud and Vincent Larouche, The Press