Already in prison for having defrauded the government in order to build a garage inspired by Batman at home, a former director of the School of Construction Trades in Montreal has just pleaded guilty to having lied to the taxman, which has was fined $54,000.
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“Yes I plead guilty, yes I admit having committed an offence”, dropped Alain Prud’homme during a hearing at the Montreal courthouse on Friday.
Since last November, the ousted director of the EMCM has been serving an 18-month prison sentence for fraud and breach of trust, in connection with his crimes committed from 2011 to 2017.
Photo courtesy
Photo of the gym that Alain Prud’homme, ex-director of the École des métiers de la construction de Montréal, had built unnecessarily and without authorization in this school.
Unnecessary purchases
At the time, Prud’homme headed the Montreal School of Construction Trades (EMCM). Taking advantage of his title, he then awarded “irregular” contracts worth nearly $900,000 to two contractors who were not approved by the school board.
“It allowed him to receive benefits, including work to build a luxury garage at his personal residence,” explained Me Maude Piché of the Quebec Revenue Agency.
Prud’homme had also built a chic gymnasium with changing rooms inside the school, as well as unnecessary equipment at the EMCM, but which he used for personal purposes.
“There was high-end kitchen equipment and photographic equipment,” the prosecutor said.
It’s the taxman’s turn
Prud’homme had thus been arrested by the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit. Except that the tax investigators were also interested in his case. And after verification, he had not declared all the benefits he had received.
“He made false or misleading statements under the tax law,” a court document said.
He was also accused of illegally claiming a GST refund, which he admitted on Friday. In all, he pleaded guilty to four criminal charges.
At the suggestion of the parties, Judge Pierre Fortin sentenced him to a fine of $54,000, as well as a year in prison. This sentence will however be served at the same time as that in the criminal file, so that it should not lengthen the time that Prud’homme will spend behind bars.