Targeted by a damning report from the Office of Inspector General (BIG) of Montreal, the Ricova company claims to have never cheated the City of Montreal and even maintains that it has never received so much revenue from recycling .
In a statement released Wednesday, Ricova CEO Dominic Colubriale said one of his companies, Ricova International, has been a buyer and seller of recyclable materials for sorting centers for 20 years. Quebecers, including those of Lachine and Saint-Michel, and that its business model has never posed a problem for the city. “Montreal has never questioned the profits that Ricova International was making on resale,” underlines Mr. Colubriale.
In a report filed Monday, the BIG accused Ricova of having pocketed part of the revenues that should have been paid to the City of Montreal for the resale of recyclable materials. By keeping an amount of $20 per ton for itself, Ricova International deprived the City of “considerable sums”, wrote the team of Inspector Brigitte Bishop. For the Saint-Michel sorting center contract alone, the BIG mentioned an amount of 1.15 million that would have escaped the City between August 2020 and July 2021. The BIG recommended the termination of the contracts with Ricova and the transfer of the file to the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC?utm_source=recirculation&utm_medium=hyperlink&utm_campaign=corps_texte” target=”_blank”>UPAC).
5.8 million paid to the City
Ricova does not see the situation the same way. Based on a forensic report produced by KPMG, Dominic Colubriale argues that, on the contrary, Ricova has enabled the City to benefit from “the best prices on the market” and that its management of sorting centers has resulted in savings. of “several million” for Montrealers. In 14 months, Ricova paid $5.8 million to the City of Montreal through recycling, says Colubriale.
According to him, the conclusions of the OIG demonstrate his ignorance of the functioning of the operations and the enhancement of recycling. “Sorting centers are not equipped to set up an international network for recycling sorted materials, which requires complex infrastructure and documentation. In this sense, Ricova International has always been a constant and reliable partner, but above all, it has always offered the best prices to sorting centres,” continues the entrepreneur.
Recall that Ricova was appointed in July 2020 to take over the management contracts for the Lachine and Saint-Michel sorting centers after the MD Paper Recycling Company and Canadian Solid Waste found themselves in financial difficulty.
Vigilant MRCs
Other Quebec municipalities and RCMs have contracts with Ricova and are monitoring the situation in Montreal closely. This is the case for the MRC de Marguerite-D’Youville, whose contract with the company began last January. “It does not change anything for our contract”, however supports Sylvain Berthiaume, director general of the MRC. “It is a collection, transport and recovery contract. It is not a management contract for a sorting center as is the case with Montreal. »
“However, I must admit that we are watching with great interest what is happening in Montreal because some of our materials go to Montreal’s sorting centers,” he adds. “Montreal’s decisions are likely to have an impact on us. »
For its part, the MRC de Roussillon, which also has a contract with Ricova, indicates that, like Montreal, its agreement contains a profit and loss sharing clause. This clause is however based on an independent index compiled by Recyc-Québec, specifies Anne-Louise Milot, director of communications for this MRC. “We receive a rebate when the sale price of recyclable materials on the markets exceeds a certain threshold. The contract between the MRC and the company is therefore not called into question following the revelations of the BIG”, explains Mr.me Milot.
However, the MRC remains “vigilant” by monitoring the movement of supplier vehicles and compiling invoices and proof of weighing, she adds.
The findings of the BIG have been brought to the attention of the Public Procurement Authority (AMP), but for the moment, the file is being analyzed, indicates the public procurement monitoring body.
It should be noted that the BIG had noted that of the four Ricova companies involved in the Lachine and Saint-Michel sorting center file, only Ricova Services held an authorization to contract AMP.