UNITÉ PERMANENTE ANTICORRUPTION (ANTI-CORRUPTION SQUAD) PRÉVENIR | VÉRIFIER | ENQUÊTER PROCUREMENT, INTEGRITY, MANAGEMENT AND OPENESS FORUM KIEV, MAY 23rd, 2017
OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION o Creation of UPAC o History o Why fight corruption o UPAC: status, structure and characteristics o Our work and methods o Investigation and common infractions o UPAC’s results o Educating the public o Conclusion and challenges
THE CREATION OF UPAC UPAC was created February 11th, 2011, and is a powerful tool in the fight against corruption in all its forms, including: o Fraud o Malfeasance o Collusion o Breach of trust o Influence peddling of officials (municipal or provincial) o Bribes, kickbacks, favours, commissions or tips to an elected official… or to a member of a public organization
HISTORY OF ANTI-CORRUPTION INITIATIVES o October 2009: Creation of Escouade Marteau o A team of investigators from different police squads, Competition Bureau of Canada and Quebec Revenue agency was created to lead investigations, notably in the construction industry. o January 2010: Fact-finding mission to the Department of Investigation (DOI) in New York. o With over 100 years of corruption detection experience, the DOI inspired the creation and the structure of UPAC. We grouping expertises to prevent, audit and investigate. o February 2010: Creation of the Unité anticollusion (UAC) o A team of investigators was assembled to detect collusion stratagems within the Ministère des Transports (investments of more than 4,7 billions $ (CAD) in public contracts for 2016-2017).
HISTORY OF ANTI-CORRUPTION INITIATIVES (cont’d) o February 2011: Announcement of the creation of the Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC) o Quebec adopts an effective anti-corruption tool inspired by the New York model. o March 2011: Robert Lafrenière is appointed as first anti-corruption commissioner o May 2011: Creation of the Bureau de lutte à la corruption et à la malversation (BLCM) o This initiative led to the creation of 20 prosecutors positions dedicated to UPAC’s cases. o June 2011: Unanimous adoption of Bill 15 – Anti-Corruption Act o regarding the fight against corruption. o October 2011: Announcement of the upcoming board of inquiry on the construction industry o presided by the Honourable Justice France Charbonneau. Ended in 2015 with 60 recommendations to the government.
WHY FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION? o To promote healthy competition in the markets. o To generate investment. o To ensure sound management of public funds . o To improve the atmosphere on public procurement. o Obvious public concern regarding this phenomenon, and a willingness to take actions to protect public funds.
UPAC’S PERMANENT STATUS The advantages of UPAC’s permanent status: o Continuously monitor how stratagems evolve o Develop unique expertise o Maintain constant pressure on criminal elements o Prevent wrongdoings in a consistent manner o Carry out operations on a permanent basis o Share information and knowledge o Ensure the sustainability of financial resources
BUDGET AND STAFF o 2011: $31M – 200 EMPLOYEES o 2017: $48M – 320 EMPLOYEES o Anti-Corruption Commissioner (UPAC): 95 employees o Police organizations: 125 employees o Quebec Revenue Agency (RQ): 40 employees o Building authority of Quebec (RBQ): 4 employees o Quebec Construction Commission (CCQ): 7 employees o Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MAMOT): 13 employees o Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) o Office of Crime and Special Issues : 40 employees
STRUCTURE ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSIONER Associate Commissioner Associate Commissioner Operations / of Audits - of Audits - Corporate Administration and investigations Integrity Audit Service Human Resources
OUR WORK o Carrying out investigations – Criminal Code, and penal and fiscal law. o Completing administrative audits of municipalities, licensed contractors and construction sites. o Insure integrity of business that wish to be awarded public contracts. o Advocating prevention – Educating people so they can avoid falling victim to corruption.
Business Integrity Advisory opinions Audits & Inspections Penal Investigations Tax-related offences Criminal Investigations Undeclared Corruption Recommendations Prevention & Audits of work Unlicensed Reprisals Breach of trust - municipal contractors to government education Influence peddling Construction contracts Fraud sites Public office holders Collusion False statements – authorization application Audits of Background businesses checks Treatment – authorization application
OUR METHODS o Investigation o Punitive component – Acts on the past o Audit o Compliance component – Acts on the present o Prevention o Educational component – Acts on the future
INVESTIGATING CORRUPTION o Corruption-related crimes leave very few or no physical traces or concrete evidence. o Corruption takes a variety of forms and spreads by various means: collusion, bribes, transactions made under the table or behind closed doors, document forgery, invoice falsification, etc. o The documents to be studied and the electronic data collected require an enormous amount of analysis, as in the Faubourg Contrecœur case, for example, where 250 terabytes of electronic data were seized.
COMMON INFRACTIONS RELATED TO CRIMINAL CODE o Act. 121: Frauds on the government o Acts of corruption commited by officials and persons dealing with the government. o Act. 122: Breach of trust by public officer o Use of one’s public office for a dishonest, partial corrupt or oppressive purpose. o Art. 123: Municipal corruption o Bribe to municipal official as consideration for the official to perform of fail to perform his duty.
COMMON INFRACTIONS RELATED TO CRIMINAL CODE (cont’d) o Art.366: Forgery and Offences Resembling Forgery o Confection of false documents o Art.380: Fraud o Someone who, by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means defrauds the public or any person of any property, money or any service. o Art.467.11-12-13: Gangster o Incite or commit a criminal act in a criminal organization
RESULTS SINCE 2011 o Prevention: o 24,000 public office holders made aware of corruption issues. o Mandatory program on managing collusion and corruption risks (Treasury Board directive). o Audits: o 56 audits of municipal contracting management processes o 3,202 business files audited o 439 compliance audits under Bill R-20 at the Turcot site, a major road reconstruction project of more than 3,67 billions $ (CAD).
RESULTS TURCOT SITE
RESULTS (cont’d) SINCE 2011 o Investigations: o 171 arrests o 73 convictions ( 40 criminal and 33 penal) o 2 mayors of two of the largest cities in Quebec o 28 convictions for tax evasion ( 17 people and 11 companies. o Recommendations to the government: o Recommendations filed during the commission of inquiry into the construction industry; o Recommendations issued on management of public contracting in informatics.
EDUCATING THE PUBLIC o Corruption prevention and collusion detection is a new branch that was introduced when UPAC was created. o Our team has met with more than 24,000 people who work in the public sector and are connected to the awarding of public contracts. o The goal of prevention is to make people more aware of the potential for corruption in their sector of activity. o Fighting corruption has its benefits, but our focus is prevention in order to work pre-emptively and prevent wrongdoing.
RISK MANAGEMENT: OUR NEW FOCUS Divided into four stages: o Creation of an organizational risk management framework o Production of a risk management plan o Accountability o Update of the organizational framework
CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES Strategies for fighting corruption and collusion o Active approach: o Have a database allowing cross-connection of stratagems to forestall corruption and collusion. o Sufficient resources: o Over 100 police officers full time o 320 employees o Team of specialized counsel o Budget of $48M (CAD) o Treat corruption as a specific field of investigation: o as with serious crimes and organized crime o do not confine corruption to economic crime, for example
CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES (cont’d) Challenges: o Cases before the courts: o challenges arising from the Jordan case (deadlines, preparation of evidence) o Disclosure of evidence when charges are laid o Prevention : obligation for departments and agencies to adopt a program for managing collusion and corruption risks. o Implementation of the recommendations of the Commission of inquiry (Charbonneau): o creation of the Public Contracting Authority (PL-108) o more inspection powers when awarding contracts
QUESTIONS?
ELECTRONIC TENDERING SYSTEM (SEAO) o The official tendering web site of the Government of Quebec since June 2004 . o Provides access to government contracting opportunities coming from most of Quebec public agencies. o Government of Quebec o Municipal market o Education network o Health and social services network
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