The day before his scheduled entry into prison, Tony Accurso attempts a final appeal before the Supreme Court.
Posted at 7:43 p.m.
Five days after the Quebec Court of Appeal refused to grant him a third trial, the 70-year-old turned to the Supreme Court.
On Friday, Mr. Accurso will also ask to be released pending the decision of the high court.
The fallen entrepreneur was supposed to head to prison on Wednesday, four years after being found guilty of taking part in one of the worst cases of corruption in Quebec history.
Big boss of a Quebec construction empire, Tony Accurso was at the heart of a vast system of collusion and corruption of municipal officials to obtain public contracts for the City of Laval. From 1996 to 2010, his companies pocketed millions of dollars thanks to this criminal system established by the former mayor of Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt.
Tony Accurso was sentenced to four years in prison in July 2018 after being found guilty of numerous crimes, including corruption, fraud and conspiracy, following his second jury trial.
In a lengthy 76-page decision expected for a year, the Court of Appeal rejected the defense appeals last Thursday. Tony Accurso’s main ground of appeal was the “unlawful” intrusion of the police investigation into the secrecy of the jury’s deliberations.
Meanwhile, the province’s highest court ruled the four-year prison sentence adequate. The crimes committed by Tony Accurso “generate cynicism and disillusionment among citizens with regard to public institutions […] [et] nourish the disaffection of citizens towards all elected officials and civil servants”, argued the Court of Appeal.