CRA Staff with $1.7-million Bank Account Part 2 of 2 :CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
Well, if you can remember back to last week’s Tax Tale here are some
of the juicier details:
Auditors hopped flight to Bahamas to withdraw money
Revenue Canada staffers had $1.7-million in account, according to
search warrants
DANIEL LEBLANC
April 10, 2009
OTTAWA -- A week after American authorities charged Canadian
accountant Martin Tremblay with money laundering in 2006, three
Montreal men hopped on a flight to the Bahamas.
Two of them - Adriano Furgiele and Antonio Girardi, team leaders at
Revenue Canada's audit branch - had $1.7-million in an account at Mr.
Tremblay's bank in Nassau, according to court documents.
The money was jointly held with Francesco Bruno, a businessman in the
construction industry who is also Mr. Furgiele's cousin, according to
a Revenue Canada search warrant.
The three men had declared only a total of $760,000 in income from
2004 to 2007, raising questions about the origin of the money in their
joint account.
After informing the bank that they were cutting all ties with Mr.
Tremblay, the trio withdrew their money and sent it to another
institution in Switzerland.
The Bahamas trip, which was mostly paid for by Mr. Bruno's credit
card, went unnoticed for two years until Revenue Canada decided to
audit one of Mr. Bruno's businesses, BT Céramiques Inc.
The investigation quickly engulfed all three men in a swirl of
allegations of large-scale tax evasion by construction firms in
Quebec, including companies owned by industry magnate Tony Accurso.
Revenue Canada has had to acknowledge allegations that one of its own,
Mr. Furgiele, falsified a tax audit on behalf of one of Mr. Bruno's
companies.
According to Revenue Canada allegations, two shell companies belonging
to Mr. Bruno helped construction firms belonging to Mr. Accurso hide
$4.5-million in revenues in recent years.
Mr. Furgiele and Mr. Girardi were suspended without pay this week
after being arrested and interviewed by the RCMP.
No charges have been laid, and none of the allegations has been proven
in court.
Two other Revenue Canada employees were suspended without pay for the
duration of the investigation.
Revenue Canada did not seal the search warrants it executed at various
construction firms this week, putting its allegations in full view of
the public.
The agency said that when investigators executed raids in relation to
their investigation of BT Céramiques last year, the firm's accountants
had a "plan of action" that basically provided a step-by-step approach
to stop the audit of a numbered company belonging to Mr. Bruno.
In the search warrant, Revenue Canada alleged the action plan was
"executed with the help of Mr. Furgiele," who was the supervisor of an
employee involved in doing the audit.
Mr. Bruno's firm, 3703436 Canada Inc., was a shell company that
provided fake invoices to Mr. Accurso's firms, according to Revenue
Canada.
The money paid to the numbered company was allegedly not declared, as
the fake invoices included, among other things, invalid GST numbers.
Revenue Canada said Mr. Bruno withdrew most of the money from the
company's bank account.
In particular, Revenue Canada said that more than $70,000 was
withdrawn in a number of casinos.
Mr. Tremblay, who initially helped set up the bank account in the
Bahamas, pleaded guilty to one charge of money laundering in an
unrelated matter.
He is currently serving a sentence in the United States.
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Alan Baggett – Tax Collector’s Bible
Canuck57
Hey, why should only the top dogs in the Conservative and Liberal paries get
the pork?
LOL.
"Alan Baggett" <AlanB...@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:98ad608d-53ab-4279...@b6g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
Alan Baggett
> Hey, why should only the top dogs in the Conservative and Liberal paries get
> the pork?
These guys were caught by accident, dumb luck, call it what you will.
But how many haven't (or aren't) being caught?
> LOL.
>
> "Alan Baggett" <AlanBagg...@volcanomail.com> wrote in message