Innergex fired its chief financial officer Jean-François Neault, after learning in The Press that he was suspected of insider trading with a former vice-president of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec.
Updated yesterday at 6:38 p.m.
The CEO of Innergex assures that the company was unaware of all the troubles of its senior executive with the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), which searched his home on January 22, 2020.
“We understood that there was a confidentiality order issued by the AMF,” said Michel Letellier in an interview. I was very surprised, but I would like to reiterate that Jean-François had no doubts or suspicions regarding his role at Innergex. He had done a good job since his arrival. »
The CEO, however, believes that the company, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, had little other option.
“We are very focused on good governance, transparency,” he said. So, for our chief financial officer to be the subject of an investigation for a breach of the regulations of the Autorité des marchés markets is incompatible with our code of ethics. That’s why we had to thank Jean-François this week. »
As of Thursday, Innergex entrusts financial management to Jean Trudel, who has been chief investment and development officer since 2015.
Inside information
The Press reported on Monday that a former executive at Private Placements at the Caisse, Justin Méthot, had his office searched in January 2020. The former vice-president responsible for investments in large companies allegedly disclosed privileged information to Jean -François Neault in August 2019, according to affidavits from the Authority.
The information concerned Toronto Stock Exchange-listed food retailer Colabor and the impending departure of its then CEO, Lionel Ettedgui.
According to the financial markets policeman, Jean-François Neault would then have disclosed this information to a dozen individuals, several days before the release of the official press release.
Among them: Claude Gariépy, former CEO of Colabor. He would have used this information to sell the title before the announcement and “avoid a loss amounting to several thousand dollars”.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Claude Gariépy, CEO of Colabor until 2018, with Jean-François Neault, who reportedly provided him with privileged information.
From 2013 to 2018, the two men worked together at Colabor. Jean-François Neault held the position of Chief Financial Officer there, before moving to Innergex. He refused to answer questions from The Press.
No charges have been filed in this case. The investigation file has been in the hands of AMF prosecutors since last December.
The former VP of the Caisse defends his integrity
As for Justin Méthot, he came out of his silence Thursday by press release. The former vice-president of the Caisse assures that he has always fulfilled his duties “with professionalism, rigor and an irreproachable ethics”.
“My duties at the Caisse required me to manage a large amount of highly sensitive information on a daily basis, which was necessary to make rigorous decisions,” he underlines. I consider that I fulfilled this duty with the greatest integrity, and I am proud of it. »
Justin Méthot assures that he knows nothing of the sales of shares made from the information he would have disclosed on Colabor. “And therefore, neither the Fund nor I obviously benefited either directly or indirectly from these transactions,” said its press release.
PHOTO FROM LINKEDIN
Justin Methot
Former vice-president responsible for investments in large companies, then head of relationship investment, Justin Méthot left the Caisse in April 2020, three months after the AMF search of his office.
“This investigation has dragged on for more than 27 months with the consequences that one can imagine on my personal and family life, notes his statement. Despite the passage of time, I would like to remind you that I am not accused of anything. »
Justin Méthot adds that he is “subject to a strict order of confidentiality” until the filing of charges or the abandonment of the investigation. “When this order is lifted, I will have the freedom to rectify the facts using the means at my disposal in order to restore my reputation which is seriously tarnished by these articles. »
Since September 2020, he has been Executive Vice-President and Managing Director at Eastman Capital, the private wealth management company of Pierre Karl Péladeau.
No comments from the Fund
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec still refuses to give details of the two searches that the Autorité des marchés financiers carried out in its offices in January 2020.
After the visit by the stock market watchdog, the law firm Osler conducted an internal investigation to shed light on the events, according to an internal document that The Press obtained. The Caisse (CDPQ), however, refuses to reveal the results.
“The CDPQ cannot comment on any aspect whatsoever of this investigation by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), which targets individuals and not the CDPQ or its transactions,” said Maxime Chagnon, head of global media relations, in a email to The Press. The CDPQ has offered its full cooperation to the AMF in this file. »
According to the declarations of the Authority, part of the elements seized in the offices of the Fund are still inaccessible to the investigators because it invoked the privilege lawyer-client.
Finance Minister Eric Girard, responsible for the Caisse, simply says he has “full confidence” in the AMF and in the collaboration of the institutional investor.
our reporter if you have any information on this investigation or other matters affecting the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec