Fifteen years ago, Montreal police went after one of Canada’s richest men, suspected of operating a child prostitution ring for his personal benefit. The investigation was strewn with pitfalls. Thanks to previously unpublished court documents, The Press can today reveal how the police tried to nab billionaire Robert Miller and how they were hindered.
Robert Miller, founder of the Montreal multinational Future Electronics, saw his life turned upside down last year with the broadcast of a Radio-Canada report. Six women told the public channel that they had been recruited to offer him sexual services when they were teenagers, between 1994 and 2006, which Mr. Miller vigorously denies. Some of the women told their stories to police in 2009. But no charges were filed.
What had happened at the time? Did the police take the women seriously? Had she feared investigating an influential man?
To be clear, the lawyers of The Press asked a judge to make public all the affidavits written by the police in 2009, in order to obtain search warrants for places linked to Mr. Miller.
These investigative summaries had been sealed for more than a decade and remained out of reach. After lengthy procedures, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) agreed to provide us with redacted versions of the documents.
Some information was removed by authorities to protect the identity of the victims. Others remain confidential so as not to harm the investigation, which was reopened by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) following the Radio-Canada report.
The leaked passages nevertheless show how complicated it can be for the police to track down a suspect who has almost unlimited means to defend himself and protect his interests. Note that the police officers’ allegations have not been tested in court. We don’t know if they will ever suffer it.