CRA Staff Accused of Tax Fraud Scheme Part I of II :CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
Revenue Canada Staff accused in alleged $4.5m tax fraud scheme
Peter Rakobowchuk -The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn says at least three
companies and four Canada Revenue Agency employees have been involved
in an alleged $4.5-million tax-fraud scheme.
Two of the four employees of the Montreal tax-services office have
been arrested and two others suspended without pay, Blackburn told a
news conference today.
The two arrested workers, who were also suspended, allegedly tried to
shield their activities by falsifying documents.
“The Canada Revenue Agency has reasons to suspect that three companies
under investigation — Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc., Construction
Louisbourg Ltée., and Hyprescon — funnelled close to $4.5 million to
two dummy corporations that have no commercial viability and that were
part of a false invoicing scheme,” Blackburn said.
The federal minister stressed the investigation did not put into
question, “the honesty and the integrity of the vast majority of
professionals at the Canada Revenue Agency.”
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
Patrice Chouinard, director of the revenue agency’s Montreal office,
said the arrests were the result of a three-stage investigation called
Project Legaux.
Chouinard said according to the investigation, a numbered company and
another firm supplied phoney bills which were allegedly used to
fradulently reduce the revenues of Simard-Beaudry, Construction
Louisbourg and Hyprescon.
The revenue agency alleges individuals or companies obtained
“convenience” invoices in the scheme from an inactive company for
fictitious work.
The invoices were allegedly used to fraudulently reduce the
individuals’ or companies’ revenues.
The resulting tax savings were then allegedly shared by the scheme’s
participants to use as payoffs or for paying salaries under the table.
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