As part of the verifications requested by François Legault, Deputy Minister Stéphane Le Bouyonnec denied still having a financial link with the high-interest loan company Finabanx. Exactly the opposite of what he said to The Pressas well as to a former co-shareholder of the company, in a 2021 email filed in court.
What there is to know
- On October 23, 2023, Stéphane Le Bouyonnec took office as Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs
- He receives an annual salary of $253,942, in addition to a monthly allowance of $1,573 for his living expenses in Quebec.
- He still has interests of $500,000 in the company Finabanx, a private loan company with 87% interest or more in English Canada, according to his declarations to The Press and to a former co-shareholder.
- This practice is prohibited in Quebec, and the opposition is calling for its suspension.
- He will also have to explain in court questionable payments that the company made, according to the testimony of a former senior executive, to repay a debt owed by its partners to organized crime.
- In 2018, François Legault already dismissed Stéphane Le Bouyonnec, who was a candidate and president of the CAQ, for this reason.
“Following checks carried out with Mr. Le Bouyonnec and in light of the documents he submitted to the Secrétariat aux emploi supérieur, Mr. Le Bouyonnec sold all of his shares in the company Finabanx, without any consideration future, and this since November 2020,” asserts the spokesperson for the Ministry of Executive Council Jessica Leblanc in an email to The Press THURSDAY.
In an interview, Stéphane Le Bouyonnec nevertheless affirmed the opposite, on November 28, explaining that he hoped for a future payment despite the sale of his shares to the head of the company’s financial department, in 2020. Here is an extract from the conversation that The Press had with him:
“I simply gave up this whole thing for $1, and if there were ever future considerations, let’s put it like that, there would eventually be money coming back, well then I would have a return.
— A kind of sales price balance on your shares?
– Yeah, that’s it.
—So now, have you got your money? Was that paid to you?
– No no not at all. Because, obviously, as long as these actions are taken into account, we can say that they are worth zero today, potentially. So eventually, we don’t know when, but it’s certain that, honestly, I would like to review what I put, the nominal value. »
In an email to a co-investor in Finabanx in February 2021, Stéphane Le Bouyonnec explained that he had to “sell” his shares because of “his job”, but that his “risk remains at (sic) 100% for 500k ($500,000).” It is on the basis of this document that The Press had questioned the deputy minister about his continuing financial ties to the company.
COURT DOCUMENT
A February 2021 email filed in court where Stéphane Le Bouyonnec discusses his continuing interest of $500,000 in Finabanx, despite the “transfer” of his shares. He had then been a senior official in François Legault’s Ministry of the Executive Council for almost two months.
Quebec informed The Press of his “checks” with Stéphane Le Bouyonnec after a declaration by François Legault according to which he knew nothing of the deputy minister’s persistent links with Finabanx, revealed in an investigation by The Press THURSDAY. He added that he intended to ask the Secretary General of the Executive Council (big boss of senior civil servants) to look into his case.
“I asked Mr.me [Dominique] Savoie to do all the checks, but no, I wasn’t aware of it,” the Prime Minister said Thursday after the question period.
Suspension requested
The opposition is calling for the suspension of Stéphane Le Bouyonnec as a senior civil servant while the government investigates his links with Finabanx.
Thursday morning, The Press has also revealed that Stéphane Le Bouyonnec will have to explain his management of the company’s governance. While he was “chairman of the board” in 2019, Finabanx allegedly made questionable payments to its founders to repay a debt to organized crime, according to sworn testimony from a former top executive.
In 2018, Stéphane Le Bouyonnec had already had to resign as candidate and president of the CAQ because of his involvement in the company, which deals in private loans at 87% interest and more outside Quebec. However, he joined the senior civil service in December 2020 as associate secretary general, high-speed internet, within François Legault’s Ministry of the Executive Council. Then, last October, Quebec promoted him to Deputy Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs under Éric Caire.
Nominations that do not pass. “He must be suspended,” said the interim leader of the Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay, at a morning press briefing on Thursday. The Quebec Solidaire MP Vincent Marissal believes that he can “difficultly stay in office”, and the PQ Pascal Bérubé believes that this is a classic case of “partisan appointment”.
Marc Tanguay says he was stunned when he read the investigation The Press. “I read that and I was like, ‘Is he still in there? Oh come on !” “, he blurted out.
Unanimous motion
The CAQ deputies voted with all the other deputies in favor of a motion from solidarity Vincent Marissal to demand “that senior civil servants have no interest in companies pursuing activities in other jurisdictions which are illegal in Quebec “.
The text mentions that senior civil servants are “held to high standards of ethics, which implies respecting Quebec laws and the standards that underlie them” and “that private companies offering high-rate loans are prohibited in Quebec.