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Politics : Canadian Political Free-for-All -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (2609)	5/15/2003 8:45:40 AM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Respond to of 37176

Hotelier PM helped fined for tax evasion Andrew McIntosh National Post Thursday, May 15, 2003 CREDIT: Jacques Boissinot, The Canadian Press Pierre Thibault obtained federal loans and grants for the Auberge Gouverneur in Shawinigan, Que. (Pierre) Thibault: (Photo ran in all editions except Toronto.) ADVERTISEMENT OTTAWA - A Quebec businessman whose Shawinigan hotel secured $2-million in federal loans and grants in 1997 and 1998 with the help of Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, has been fined $188,000 after pleading guilty to criminal tax fraud charges in his hotel dealings. Accountant Pierre Thibault pleaded guilty during a brief appearance in Quebec Court in Montreal earlier this week, although he was charged in Shawinigan. A Canada Customs and Revenue Agency investigation found Mr. Thibault "took a total of $960,347 in funds" belonging to the Auberge Gouverneur hotel in Shawinigan while the new hotel was under construction in 1998. It was unclear yesterday what money he took, why and what he did with it. But federal auditors discovered that Mr. Thibault failed to declare the money as personal income on his 1998 tax return, a move that helped him evade $251,926 in personal income tax. Quebec Court Justice Claude Vaillancourt slapped Mr. Thibault with the $188,000 fine -- a sum equal to 75% of the taxes he evaded. He has three months to pay it. He must also pay all income taxes owing, plus interest and penalties, said France Simard, a senior CCRA communications manager for the Quebec region. Tax fraud investigators armed with a search warrant carried out a raid in Shawinigan on June 20, 2001, and gathered evidence for the criminal probe. Charges were laid against Mr. Thibault on Feb. 7, 2003. In a series of stories in 1999, the National Post revealed that Mr. Thibault's Shawinigan hotel had received $2,025,000 in federal government loans and grants since 1997 while he was under criminal investigation in Belgium for defrauding his partners of almost $1-million. Belgian police were called in after a forensic audit found Mr. Thibault had created a false invoicing system at Don-Bar SA to conceal unauthorized personal spending at the Brussels company. He surrendered his shares in the company after admitting in writing to the misappropriation. After landing in Shawinigan, Mr. Thibault associated with local Liberals in Saint-Maurice riding and, with Mr. Chrétien's help, his new hotel venture received: - a $925,000 mortgage loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada, a Montreal-based Crown corporation. - a $700,000 non-repayable job creation grant from Human Resources and Development Canada. HRDC officials and documents revealed that Mr. Chrétien announced the grant for Mr. Thibault weeks before the 1997 election, close to three weeks before he had even filed a business plan for the hotel. - an unsecured $400,000 loan from Canada Economic Development For Quebec Regions. Mr. Thibault told the Post he concealed from Canadian authorities details of his troubles with the law in Belgium when he applied for his federal loans and grants. The Prime Minister attacked the newspaper for its investigations of both Mr. Thibault and his Auberge Gouverneur, and the loans and grants to Yvon Duhaime and his Grand-Mère Inn, in an unprecedented letter to the editor, the only one he has written to a newspaper since becoming Prime Minister in 1993. In his April 10, 1999, letter, Mr. Chrétien wrote: "Much has been made about the background of the individuals involved in these two projects.... I do regret that the reputations of other individuals have been dragged through the mud by the National Post in an effort to attack my personal integrity." The hotel later went bankrupt under Mr. Thibault's ownership. It has new owners. In the Commons yesterday, Canadian Alliance MP Chuck Strahl demanded Allan Rock, the Industry Minister and the Minister responsible for the Business Development Bank of Canada, launch an investigation into the loan approvals for the two Saint-Maurice hotel promoters. "Will he specifically ask why it is that when the Prime Minister intervenes, the pennies simply fall from heaven," Mr. Strahl asked, wondering how Mr. Thibault succeeded in getting more federal money while facing criminal probes. Mr. Rock said the opposition MP's allegation was without foundation. amcintosh@nationalpost.com © Copyright 2003 National Post