A Matane drug trafficker was found guilty of having defrauded the Canadian National out of $665,000 by using a false invoice scheme which he used to obtain payment for motorized equipment from two subcontractors of the railway company.
In the early 2010s, Rénald Arsenault was a CN employee in the Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie region who had the ability to authorize invoices for the purchase of various equipment.
From 2012 until 2015, the now 42-year-old had two schemes in place with area vendors to authorize invoices for various equipment purchases that CN never used .
Over the years, Arsenault has authorized invoices to pay for several motorized vehicles, including an ATV, a snowmobile or a boat. He had even offered a generator to his brother.
Internal audit
Accounting audits at CN, however, uncovered anomalies in the financial statements that led to an investigation and an arrest in January 2018. The fraud totaled an amount of approximately $665,000.
However, Rénald Arsenault, who also owned two restaurants in Matane and Causapscal, was arrested in November 2020 following the dismantling of a major drug trafficking network in the region.
Last December, he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for his central involvement in the drug network.
Following this sentence, Arsenault, who had first announced the holding of a trial, finally decided to plead guilty to the act of fraud.
A sentence of 17 months in prison, concurrent with his sentence of six and a half years, was imposed on him.
Co-defendant pleads guilty
On Monday, his co-accused, Stéphane Leclerc, owner of the Boutique du Travailleur, also pleaded guilty to having fabricated false invoices.
The man showed “willful blindness” in the face of Arsenault’s scheme, and his lawyer Me Simon Roy wishes to obtain an absolution for his client, given a much less significant involvement.
A third co-defendant, Steeve Bujold, of the Sport Max trade, will also plead guilty this summer in the case.
Reference-www.journaldequebec.com