Illegal party donations detailed by Roche Engineering V.P.
CBC News | Posted: May 23, 2014 7:01 PM | Last Updated: May 23, 2014
André Côté testifies at Charbonneau Commission
Today at the Charbonneau Commission, André Côté, a former vice president of Roche Engineering, explained how the firm earmarked a yearly sum for political donations.
Côté explained that from 2006 to 2009, financing for the Quebec Liberals increased.
He said this was during a time when there was "a lot of money invested in infrastructure."
According to Côté, funding practices Roche would have been the same with any party.
Between 2001 and 2010 Côté gave:
- $15,750 to the Liberals
- $10,350 to the PQ
- $650 to the now-defunct ADQ.
"I think it's a question of the party in power," he said.
Côté told the Charbonneau commission that it was a vice president with the firm, France Michaud, and the president Mario Martel who established the annual budget for financing political parties.
Côté said Michaud met with former Liberal MNA Violette Trépanier and the PQ’s Ginette Boivin to agree on a figure for the annual donation.
He said the firm's seven vice presidents agreed to put $10,000 of their own salaries towards party donations.
Faced with the growing increase in requests from parties in 2008-2009, Côté himself approached three or four shareholders to offer them bonuses for funding political parties.
Côté also spoke about false invoices created by the firm.
He said the false invoices were produced at the request of Martel and Michaud.
Côté said he is still "surprised" the chief electoral officer never addressed Roche’s party financing, considering it was common knowledge among Quebec politicians.
He said that he was uncomfortable with the company’s practices.
"All political parties know that the employees are not paying their own money out of pocket," said Côté.
According to Côté, about 90 per cent of donations made by Roche employees were reimbursed, which is illegal.