Tony Accurso

Tony Accurso
Born Antonio Accurso
November 8, 1951
Montreal, Quebec
Occupation Businessman

Antonio "Tony" Accurso (born November 8, 1951 in Montreal) is a Quebec businessman and entrepreneur specialized in the construction sector. He directly and indirectly controls several construction businesses as well as bars, restaurants, movie theatres, shopping centres, and the Hippo Club in Laval.[1]

Companies

Tony Accurso heads Simard-Beaudry Construction, one of the leading construction companies in Quebec.[2] Accurso also controls many other companies, especially in the construction sector, such as Louisbourg, Gastier, Constructions Marton or the Ciments Lavallée Cemco.[3]

Search warrants relating to tax fraud

On April 8, 2009, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) executed search warrants concerning tax fraud investigations.[4] The CRA had reason to suspect that the three companies involved, Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc., Construction Louisbourg Ltd., and Hyprescon, had funneled close to $4.5 million to two "dummy" corporations that have no commercial activity and that were used as part of a false invoicing scheme. These corporations were run by businessman Antonio Accurso.

Tax Evasion

On December 6, 2010, the Canada Revenue Agency, issued a news release[5] stating that charges of tax evasion were laid at the Laval courthouse against Constructions Louisbourg Ltd. and Simard-Beaudry Construction. Both companies are charged with willfully contravening the Income Tax Act. Their court appearance was scheduled for December 7, 2010 at the Laval courthouse.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) investigation, launched in 2009, determined that Constructions Louisbourg Ltd. evaded paying income tax by claiming a total of $15,334,174 in non-deductible expenses for tax years 2003 to 2008, while Simard-Beaudry Construction evaded paying income tax by claiming $3,575,335 in non-deductible expenses for tax years 2005 to 2008.

On December 7, 2010, he pleaded guilty. During the court procedure another player, Francesco Bruno was accused of helping Simard-Beaudry Construction evade tax.

Arrest

Accurso was arrested April 17, 2012. He is expected in court to face charges of fraud, conspiracy, influence-peddling, breach of trust and two counts of defrauding the government.[6]

Career

Over the course of his career, Accurso has had ties and has made donations to representatives of several Provincial Political Parties in Quebec including the Parti Québécois, the Quebec Liberal Party, and the Action démocratique du Québec.[1]

Accurso was a friend of Louis Laberge, the founder of Fonds de solidarité FTQ which is sponsored by the Fédération des travailleurs du Québec (Quebec Federation of Labour). Accurso's businesses have accumulated $114 Million (Canadian) in subsidies from Fonds de solidarité.[1]

Following the breaking of the report Le fonds sous influence on the program Enquête (Investigation) of September 24, 2009,[7] Accurso sued journalist Alain Gravel and Société Radio-Canada for invasion of privacy and defaming his reputation; he seeks $2.5 Million in damages.[8] In November 2009, Accurso admitted that the facts presented in Gravel's report were true. The admission was made public July 15, 2010.[9]

Accurso was solicited for money by municipal politician Benoît Labonté when the former entered the leadership race for Vision Montréal.[10][11][12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lévesque, Kathleen (26 March 2009), "Qui est Tony Accurso?", Le Devoir, retrieved 1 November 2009.
  2. ↑ Simard-beaudry.com
  3. ↑ Cyberpresse.ca
  4. ↑ Cra-arc.gc.ca, The Canada Revenue Agency executes search warrants relating to tax fraud
  5. ↑ Canada Revenue Agency, Constructions Louisbourg Ltd. and Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc. charged with tax evasion
  6. ↑ Quebec anti-corruption raids net 14 arrests, 47 charges
  7. ↑ Alain Gravel and Marie-Maude Denis (24 September 2009). "Le fonds sous influence". Société Radio-Canada.
  8. ↑ Radio-Canada et La Presse canadienne (23 October 2009). "Émission Enquête - Accurso poursuit Radio-Canada". http://www.radio-canada.ca.
  9. ↑ David Santerre (15 July 2010). "Les aveux discrets de Tony Accurso". Rue Frontenac.
  10. ↑ Fabrice de Pierrebourg (2009-09-30). "Mystérieuse rencontre "privée" entre Tony Accurso et Benoît Labonté". RueFrontenac.com. Retrieved 1 November 2009..
  11. ↑ Clément, Éric (16 October 2009), Tony Accurso aurait financé Benoît Labonté, La Presse, retrieved 1 November 2009
  12. ↑ Guthrie, Jennifer (22 October 2009), "Benoit Labonté sort de l’ombre et règle ses comptes", Métro Montréal, retrieved 1 November 2009