The Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC, en, Permanent Anticorruption Unit) is a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

government agency whose aim is to fight corruption,

collusion Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to att ...

and other

economic crime Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud ( cheque fraud, credit card fra ...

s involving

government procurement Government procurement or public procurement is the procurement of goods, services and works on behalf of a public authority, such as a government agency. Amounting to 12 percent of global GDP in 2018, government procurement accounts for a sub ...

Background

UPAC was established by the government of Quebec on February 16, 2011, to coordinate the efforts of six teams: Opération Marteau, the contractual verification team of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the anti-fraud squad of

Revenu Québec Revenu Québec (formerly the Ministère du Revenu du Québec nglish: Quebec Ministry of Revenue is the department of the government of the Province of Quebec, Canada that: *sees to the collection of income tax and consumption taxes, while ensuri ...

, the anti-collusion unit of

Transports Québec Le ministère des Transports du Québec ( en, Ministry of Transportation of Quebec), known by its short form name Transports Québec, is a Quebec government ministry responsible for transport, infrastructure and law in Quebec, Canada. Since 20 ...

, Régie du Bâtiment investigators as well as Commission de la construction du Québec inspectors. The UPAC team of over 350 people has an operating budget is $30 million. It reports to the Ministry of Public Security.

Mandate

The mandate of the UPAC is particularly focused on the construction industry. The Unit investigates offenses associated with corruption, collusion and fraud, including collusion and fraud in the awarding and execution of public contracts. They share expertise and intelligence across departments and agencies.

Past investigations

Operation Lauréat

According to a

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned- ...

report, Operation Lauréat was an investigation into the biggest corruption fraud in Canadian history, implicating

SNC-Lavalin SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal that provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services to various industries, including mining and metallurgy, oil and gas, environment and water, infrastructure, a ...

in bribery for the construction of the

McGill University Health Centre The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; french: Centre universitaire de santé McGill) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and is one of the largest medical complex in ...

. The lawyer for the MUHC, whose testimony was part of the Charbonneau inquiry into corruption in Quebec's construction industry, testified that while the contract to build the hospital complex was worth $1.3 billion, it actually totalled close to $4.6 billion when costs of managing the public-private partnership were factored in, representing an inflation of up to 20% or $934 million.

Other investigations

In late 2016, the UPAC began investigating two Montreal School Boards, the

English Montreal School Board The English Montreal School Board (EMSB, french: Commission scolaire English-Montréal – CSEM) is one of five public school boards on the island of Montreal. At 92.4 percent, the English Montreal School Board has the highest rate of students wh ...

and the Lester B. Pearson School Board, over allegations of irregularities. "Project Pandore", as the investigation was called, focused on allegations of fraud, forged documents and abuse of power at the international department of Lester B. Pearson and resulted in three arrests.

References