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RCMP searching house of Gomery inquiry witness Jacques Corriveau
RCMP searching house of Gomery inquiry witness Jacques Corriveau 25 minutes ago SAINT-BRUNO-DE-MONTARVILLE, Que. (CP) - The RCMP has begun searching the home of Jacques Corriveau, who was described during the sponsorship inquiry as a high-ranking member of the federal Liberal party with ties to Jean Chretien. Cpl. Sylvain L'Heureux said the search at the residence in the Montreal-area community of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville began at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday. "They're looking for mainly documents and computer data and different things like that," he said in an interview. "It's a search in the course of an investigation; it's an investigation that started in October 2006, so it's a follow-up to the other investigations in the sponsorship file." L'Heureux said no arrests were imminent. Corriveau testified at the Gomery inquiry but he was never charged. The commission heard that Corriveau's design firm landed several million dollars in sponsorship funds. "Jacques Corriveau was the central figure in an elaborate kickback scheme by which he enriched himself personally and provided funds and benefits to the (Quebec wing of the Liberal party)," Gomery wrote in his report. Gomery found that payments, legal and otherwise, to the Liberal party from Corriveau and a group of nine ad firms totalled more than $2.5 million - including at least $679,000 in illicit cash. The sponsorship program was designed to increase the federal government presence in Quebec after the No side's slim victory in the 1995 sovereignty referendum. Five people have been charged in the scandal. Four of them were convicted and received sentences ranging from 18 months to four years in prison. Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press |