The anti-corruption squad of Quebec has arrested its final suspect in a $24 million government contract fraud case that has implicated two Revenu Québec employees and several officials of a local IT company and workers of technology giant IBM.
Robert Lafrenière, commissioner of UPAC, yesterday confirmed that operatives of the Investigations Directorate on Corruption picked up Daniel Letourneau.
Letourneau, an employee of IBM, now faces charges of fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with scheme, which Lafrenièr said was designed to favour certain technology companies in obtaining a lucrative IT contract from Revenue Quebec.
Letourneau is schedule to appear in a Quebec City court in June 10.
On March 11, after months of investigation, UPAC officials raided several homes in the greater Montreal area and Quebec City and arrested seven people as part of the UPAC’s Project Grapeshot.
Among those arrested were two Revenue Quebec employees, identified as Hamid Jatmanene and Jamal El Khayat.
The other persons arrested were Mohamed El Khayat and Jean-Francois Robidas, directors of the Quebec IT firm Informatique EBR Inc. at the time of the alleged crime; and two other IBM employees identified as Patrick Fortin and Gilles Gariepy.
Letourneau was identified among those charged with fraud but was not among those picked up at that time.