Quebec MNAs to question UPAC chief on contents of USB key
Robert Lafrenière to answer questions before public administration committee in closed-door meeting
Robert Lafrenière, the head of Quebec's anti-corruption squad (UPAC) will present the contents of the USB key at the centre of troubling allegations about senior officials in the Transport Ministry to a legislative committee Friday.
Parti Québécois MNA Carole Poirier, who chairs the National Assembly's public administration committee, says her colleagues decided to call Lafrenière after she received a troubling letter on Tuesday.
In it, Annie Trudel – a former investigator with the provincial anti-corruption unit who was hired by former transport minister Robert Poeti to investigate the department – alleges that documents submitted by Transports Québec officials to the committee may have been falsified or contain erroneous information.
"I'm very disappointed," said Poirier about those allegations. "When a [ministry] is sending us a document, it's a real document. It's true."
She said she expects ministry officials, UPAC and the auditor general to verify the authenticity of the documents her committee received.
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Daoust wants examples of alleged wrongdoing
Quebec Transport Minister Jacques Daoust said Wednesday that his officials found nothing wrong with the documents that Trudel says were falsified.
Daoust said Trudel told staff they could correct or add comments if necessary and he encouraged her to come forward with specific examples of wrong information.
He said Quebec Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc will look into Trudel's new allegations as part of her new inquiry into the investigator's findings at the Transport Ministry.
"If they're true, well, justice has to be made, and I will take every step necessary to correct the situation," Daoust said.
Crisis reignited
This latest letter from Trudel has reignited the crisis which has been dogging the Couillard government since allegations about Transport Ministry corruption became public two weeks ago.
In an L'actualité interview about shady practices at his former department, Poeti claimed that Transports Québec employees were being intimidated into awarding contracts to certain people and that cost overruns on public projects were being hidden.
Former deputy transport minister Dominique Savoie denied the allegations on May 18, when she appeared before the legislative committee on transportation while still deputy minister.
Savoie was removed from her post the next day, after a resignation letter from Trudel, sent last April to Poeti's successor Jacques Daoust, became public.
In it, Trudel wrote that top officials in the department sabotaged and stonewalled her investigation.
Trudel says all the information about her investigation is on a USB key that she gave to Daoust. His office sent the key to UPAC, but until now, UPAC has refused to provide its contents to the legislative committee.
Closed-door meeting
Coalition Avenir Québec MNA and committee member Éric Caire is pleased Lafrenière will appear before the committee at a closed-door meeting.
However, he says it is only a first step. He wants Lafrenière to hand over a copy of the USB key to MNAs.
"We will appreciate what he has to say to us and what is important for his inquiry and what is not," said Caire. "We will see after that if we can go further."
Lafrenière is scheduled to appear on Friday at 11 a.m.