The former general manager of Saint-Simon-de-Rimouski and some of her close associates have just been accused of a series of crimes related to the misappropriation of municipal funds.
It was the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) that led the investigation into Fanny Beaulieu-Saint-Laurent, who had resigned by email from her position as general manager of the small town in 2022.
The city commissioned an audit after his resignation and publicly confirmed that about $300,000 had disappeared from its coffers. A considerable loss for a municipality whose annual budget is around $1.5 million.
Mme Beaulieu-Saint-Laurent faces seven charges, including fraud, fraudulent use of a computer, fraudulent use of a credit card, breach of trust by a public servant, possession of property obtained by crime, receiving stolen goods and money laundering.
Her mother, Odette Beaulieu, and her partner at the time, Maxim Gosselin, were accused of fraud, receiving stolen goods and money laundering, because they allegedly helped her in her scheme.
The facts allegedly took place between 2021 and 2023, according to UPAC. At the time, the accused acquired a house in Cacouna with her mother and her partner. The residence was then hit by a blocking order because the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) believed that it was a product of crime. The house has since been sold under judicial supervision.
In an interview with local media outlet Info Dimanche last April, Mayor Denis Marcoux acknowledged that the embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars had harmed the development of the municipality of fewer than 500 residents.
“We don’t have any room for maneuver to carry out the projects. We don’t have the cushion to allow us to start them, beyond the subsidies, so it’s difficult,” he said.