Former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud between 1993 and 2010, fraud, and breach of trust.
Eight other charges Vaillancourt faced will be placed under a stay of proceedings. The prosecutor said both sides suggest Vaillancourt serve a six-year prison term and reimburse more than $8.5 million to the provincial prosecutor’s bureau DPCP.
Superior Court Justice James Brunton decided to hold off on making a decision on the sentence until Dec. 15. Vaillancourt will remain detained anyway.
“I did a lot things for Laval but I made mistakes that are unacceptable,” Vaillancourt said in court.
The prosecutor said some of the money has already been transferred and that more than $5 million “is in transit” to the DPCP. Vaillancourt will turn over ownership of a residence estimated to be worth more than $1 million.
While Vaillancourt entered a full guilty plea to the conspiracy charge, he hesitated on the other two when Brunton outlined the details of what is behind the fraud and breach of trust charge. Vaillancourt seemed reluctant to admit he had the intention to commit the crimes. Brunton advised Vaillancourt to consult with his lawyer.
“It has to be your decision (to plead guilty),” Brunton told him. “You can have a trial if you want one. No one will force you. It is your decision.
Vaillancourt agreed and proceeded to enter a guilty plea to all three counts.
Charges were filed against Vaillancourt in 2013 following an investigation by the Unité permanente anti-corruption, or UPAC, into allegations of decades worth of corruption.
The prosecutor read from a document that lists a series of details that both sides agree are facts. That information has been placed under a publication ban that will be challenged by Montreal Gazette lawyer Mark Bantey.
Charges are more than three years old
In Quebec City, Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée said Vaillancourt’s guilty plea sends a message to Quebecers. “I don’t want to comment the particular case of Mr. Vaillancourt because he’s not alone in this file. This file is not done and over with, but I think the message that we have to bring to the population, Quebecers, is that no one is above the law. You have the law, you have to respect it no matter who you are, no matter who you know, no matter what you do,” she said.
Vallée said she is acting on court delays, which are believed to be putting high profile cases at risk. A recent Supreme Court decision set firm time limits on how long an accused should be expected to wait for trial after he is charged. The limit in Superior Court is 30 months. Vaillancourt was charged in May 2013.
“We can take action in the way that we do things, in the way we treat the files, in the way we address the issues, in the way we handle the different steps within a file. We can take action by making rooms more available, by having more court time, by adding resources and this is what we’re working on,” Vallée said.
“I’ve also asked everyone involved, judges, the director of penal prosecutions and the justice department to establish the need for additional resources.”
Additional reporting by Caroline Plante, Montreal Gazette
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Former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt arrives at the courthouse with his lawyer Nadia Touma, Dec. 1, 2016.
