MONTREAL -- Jean Charest is demanding UPAC (l'Unit permanente anticorruption) end the Machurer investigation which targets him, while he is thinking of returning to active politics and running for the federal Conservative leadership.
His lawyer, Michel Massicotte, gave an interview to Radio-Canada on Friday to proclaim the innocence of his client and demand the end of this investigation which has stuck to the former Quebec Premier for years.
Massicotte is adamant: there is absolutely nothing that links Charest to any illegal act "and it is time for Machurer to end, almost six years later."
This departure from Massicotte comes the day after the disclosure of UPAC documents that targeted Marc Bibeau, a former fundraiser for the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ).
The documents, released on Thursday, lifted the veil on the hidden funding of the PLQ during the Charest years. The former premier is only mentioned as a friend of Bibeau in the release.
Massicotte maintains that UPAC police officers asked twice - in 2013 and in 2014 - to meet with Charest, who accepted the offer each time. Each time, however, the offer went unheeded, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2020.
