Quebec anti-corruption unit says 90 per cent of convictions from fake COVID passports

UPAC's interim head commissioner Eric Rene said the squad received 450 denunciations of wrongdoing between 2023-2024.

The last year was busy for Quebec's anti-corruption unit, which released an annual report Wednesday showing a rising number of whistleblower reports and convictions.

"Practically all of our indicators are up," Éric René, a lawyer who is interim head of the force, told a news conference in Quebec City.

The unit, known as UPAC, said 19 people were charged in criminal cases and 18 people were convicted during the 12 months ending March 31, 2024, while 265 individuals or companies were fined during that same period.

The numbers of people charged and convicted were roughly six times higher than in the preceding 12 months.

The report noted two specific convictions — a former Montreal regional health board employee sentenced for defrauding the board of several hundred thousand dollars and the case of a former political operative sentenced to jail for embezzling funds from the office of a member of the provincial legislature.

About 90 per cent of the convictions in the 2023-24 year were related to the production and use of false COVID-19 vaccine passports.

"In all of our cases, both in criminal and penal matters, we have obtained an average conviction rate of 90 per cent over the past five years," René said. "We have reached a certain maturity."

UPAC received 450 reports to its whistleblower line, with about 30 per cent of those coming from public sector employees.

René said that even though more than half of those tips — 278 — were judged unfounded or outside the unit's mandate, "they are essential to our work and to maintaining the integrity of the state."

René said the unit's prevention and risk management activities aimed at curbing possible instances of corruption reached 5,000 people, a 26 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Much of that work was focused on the health, education and municipal sectors.

René has been heading UPAC since the departure last month of Frédérick Gaudreau, who was appointed deputy minister in the Public Security Department.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.