Former union boss claimed "astronomical" expenses: whistleblower
Ken Pereira testified at Charbonneau Commission Tuesday about Jocelyn Dupuis
Former union employee Ken Pereira told the Charbonneau Commission Tuesday that ex-director of Quebec's Federation of Labour (FTQ) construction wing, Jocelyn Dupuis, ran up huge expense tabs and had links to organized crime.
Pereira said he wasn't long at the FTQ — one the province's most powerful union federations — before he realized something was off.
He said others complained Dupuis was out of control, spending recklessly and not working in the interests of the union's members.
Pereira said he went looking for evidence and found hundreds of false expense claims for $2,000 dinners and $300 breakfasts for members of Dupuis’ inner circle on the union executive.
Pereira said he showed them to the top brass of the union, who panicked and tried to buy his silence.
“I saw astronomical expenses: $2,000 for a dinner, a $500 tip,” he told Justice France Charbonneau. “My goal was to show the leadership of FTQ Construction aren’t working for the workers.”
Clear crime ties
Pereira said it was clear that Dupuis had ties to some big names in organized crime, like the Hells Angels.
“His family, that’s his FTQ family, but he has others… the Hells family and the Mafia family,” said Pereira.
Pereira said Dupuis didn't try to hide his friendships, adding that everybody he talked to was aware of the connections.
Pereira also said construction magnate Tony Accurso and Jean Lavallee, then president of FTQ construction, both helped control the union's investment fund.