Two businessmen were found guilty of embezzling more than $1 million paid by the city of Boucherville for work to fund a gold and diamond trading post in Congo.
Patrick Alain and Franck Bubara Kataka have been accused of fraud in connection with a $3.36 million contract awarded by the City of Boucherville to complete the Café Center d’Art project.
Photo MARTIN ALARIE
Patrick Alain, who avoided our photographer, was found guilty Monday in the Longueuil courthouse in connection with a contract awarded by the city of Boucherville.
The TRM company was awarded the contract. For nearly eight months, the company received payments totaling $2,002,878.
However, instead of paying the subcontractors hired to carry out the work, the company transferred the amounts received from the city to various accounts as well as to the Congo, said Judge Serge Delisle, who sentenced the co-defendants in Longueuil on Monday.
However, the City of Boucherville had gone to the trouble of requiring a bail from the company to ensure recourse if TRM failed to pay its subcontractors. It is the Sûreté de l’Ouest du Canada company run by Franck Bubara Katata that inherited this role.
But the subcontractors did not receive even half of the money paid by the city. All suffered losses, including one who didn’t receive a dime despite having a contract worth more than $175,000.
In fact, Katata’s venture was a “false guaranty” that never had the financial capacity to secure the bid. Patrick Alain would have had the idea of the guarantee company.
He then wanted to “diversify” his investment portfolio and became interested in selling and buying gold and diamonds in Congo. If Katata has agreed, it’s because he says he’s excited about this mining project in his home country.
The co-defendants even traveled to the Congo. During their stay, several transactions were made, the judge found.
In all, more than $350,000 of the money paid by the City of Boucherville was transferred to Rawbank in Kinshasa, Congo. The accused also received large sums of money.
Two other people, managers of the TRM company, were also involved in the scheme and admitted their guilt a year ago. Jacques Lavoie received a sentence of two years less a day, and his son William got away with a parole.
“It was a long process that took five years, with about fifteen applications, a hundred documents submitted and a month-long process. But we are extremely pleased with the outcome,” commented Crown Prosecutor Me Simon Lacoste on the file.