Internal theft is a taint that hurts retail. The Société des alcools du Quebec (SAQ) is no exception. She has to deal with this reality every year. But fiscal year 2021-2022, in the heart of the pandemic, is an exception: 1,000 bottles were stolen by 10 employees. The thefts are valued at nearly $100,000.
Posted at 6:00 am
Of the ten government employees caught, two had big ambitions.
“The increase in the number of internal bottle thefts for 2021-2022 can be explained in particular by thefts committed by two of our employees, specifies SAQ spokeswoman Geneviève Cormier. These targeted high quality products. An internal investigation enabled us to determine that nearly 750 bottles were stolen by these employees, with an approximate value of $95,000. These employees no longer exist [la SAQ] and criminal charges were also filed. »
The SAQ has skimped on details as the investigation is ongoing and to make sure they aren’t being tricked.
This isn’t the first time the monopoly has had to deal with such a crime: in 2007, SAQ employees stole a total of $121,434, essentially high-quality alcohol intended for resale.
In the years that followed, we had not seen a coup of this magnitude. Until last year.
Without revealing the details of the theft, the SAQ confirms that an effective system was in place at its camp in this case and that the bottles disappeared into the wild before the thieves were caught. Without saying where or how, SAQ reports that 124 of those stolen bottles, valued at $16,863, have been recovered.
This notable theft has increased the value of internal theft losses at SAQ, a phenomenon that otherwise generally remains relatively contained.
Geneviève Cormier also explains that there is not just one theft scenario and that the bottles stolen are not all intended to be hidden. In some cases, an employee will take a single bottle with no intention of reselling it.
The SAQ has established a confidential whistleblowing hotline for its employees who witness reprehensible actions by their colleagues.
Internal thefts
2018-2019
21 bottles
Value: $235
Indefinite number of employees
2019-2020
72 bottles
Value: $437
4 employees involved
2020-2021
65 bottles
Value: $13,401
4 employees involved
2021-2022
1000 bottles
Value: $97,345
10 employees involved
2022-2023 *
7 bottles
Value: $110
1 employee involved
*Current year figures were collected from March 27, 2022 to December 16, 2022
Source: SAQ, via a request for information
Where can these bottles be found?
We can also note that the employees who committed thefts at SAQ in FY2020-2021 also knew very well what they were doing as the average value of the bottle is more than $200.
“There is a black market for all of this,” confirms the SAQ spokesman.
Although buying alcohol online from stock exchange sites in Quebec is illegal, one can imagine that this sometimes happens. It’s harder to imagine bottles stolen from the SAQ being sold in daylight or being displayed in traditional Quebec canals.
In Montreal, for example at Iegor – Hôtel des encans, the auctioneer must submit the list of wines to be auctioned at the SAQ. “We report to the Société des alcools du Québec,” confirms Laurent Berniard, auctioneer of great wines at the Iegor house. And we have to follow a very strict protocol where we give the names of the sellers. »
Also, during a wine auction, the seller has to pay a 10% commission to the SAQ, which severely limits the concealment of stolen bottles… from the SAQ!
If a restaurateur decides to buy bottles sold under the counter, they are taking a real risk as they don’t come with the obligatory restaurateur ordinal seal that identifies each business.
And the police carry out checks.
This responsibility falls to the ACCES Unit (Concerted Action to Counter Underground Economies). “The role of the ACCES unit is to systematically inspect licensed locations,” said Caroline Labelle, spokeswoman for the Montreal Police Department. If investigators get hold of irregular bottles, they can confiscate them and send them back to the SAQ.
With William Leclerc, La Presse