After more than five years of work, the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) finally submitted its reports on the leaks of sensitive documents from the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) and the arrest without indictment by this same unit of the deputy liberal Guy Ouellette. Prosecutors will now analyze the evidence to determine whether anyone will be charged in connection with this endless saga.
“Today, April 19, 2024 […], the BEI has completed the transmission of all the reports produced in the pursuit of its mandate,” confirms the organization on its website. The reports were submitted to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) for analysis. According to our information, the documentation is more than 1000 pages long, not including the appendices.
The BEI investigation, called Project Serment, was launched at the request of the Legault government in October 2018, but it did not really get underway until January 2019. It aimed to shed light on a series irregularities which led to the abortion of several UPAC files. The BEI underlines in particular on its website that between November 2011 and September 2018, numerous leaks of information on anti-corruption investigations “had consequences on these investigations as well as on the judicial process”.
Personal information disclosed
In 2017, Quebecor media published several sensitive documents resulting from a UPAC investigation into the financing of the Quebec Liberal Party. The documents notably concerned former Prime Minister Jean Charest. This investigation into political financing was never successful and Mr. Charest was compensated by the Quebec state following the disclosure of his personal information.
The UPAC commissioner at the time, Robert Lafrenière, had promised to arrest “the bandit” behind these leaks. In October 2017, its investigators arrested Liberal MP Guy Ouellette, as well as an active police officer and another retired officer, in connection with these leaks. But the following year, without even charges being brought against the three men, the DPCP recognized the nullity of the warrants issued against them.
Mr. Lafrenière resigned on the day of the election of the CAQ to power and the new UPAC commissioner presented an official apology to Guy Ouellette.
Impact on a major file
Leaks of confidential documents also had an impact on a major case when former Deputy Prime Minister Nathalie Normandeau and several other people accused of fraud benefited from a halt to the legal process due to legal delays and leaks. of investigative documents in the public sphere.
The BEI Oath Project focused on two distinct aspects of the case. It initially aimed to find those responsible for the leaks of confidential documents linked to anti-corruption investigations, but also to shed light on the way in which UPAC had managed these leaks and proceeded to the arrest of a deputy before see his warrants quashed in court. This is why two reports were presented to the DPCP at the end of the exercise.
According to figures obtained under the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information from the various organizations involved in the Serment survey and compiled by The Pressthis would have cost at least $11 million to date.