The ex-businessman, who has appealed his guilty verdict and sentence, has until Wednesday, June 1, to report to the correctional facility.
Tony Accurso was convicted in 2018 after a second trial on five counts of bribery, breach of trust, fraud and conspiracy (two counts).
The first trial was cut short in November 2017 when a member of the jury admitted receiving information that had not been disclosed during the trial.
After his conviction, Tony Accurso spent a few days in prison before being released on bail when his lawyer appealed the sentence.
One of the arguments he made before the Court of Appeal was that the abandonment of the first trial had allowed prosecutors to improve their evidence for the second, rendering it unfair.
Specifically, Tony Accurso’s defense contended that the opening of an investigation by UPAC’s Standing Anti-Corruption Unit into the circumstances of the jury contamination enabled prosecutors to obtain privileged information. More specifically, based on the investigation, the prosecution could have learned of the jury’s impressions of the conduct of the first trial and adjusted during the second trial.
However, the Court of Appeals dismissed that argument, concluding that prosecutors to the DPCP Director of Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement had not benefited from confidential information.
Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer expressed his delight at the court’s decision. It is an important reminder to organized crime that there will be consequences for their wrongful actions, he wrote in a statement.
“After all the work that we have done over the past few years, I am convinced that many Laval families have really breathed a sigh of relief. We can assure you that we will continue the work and will not slow down. »
— A quote from Stéphane Boyer, Mayor of Laval
Tony Accurso’s attorney, Marc Labelle, may decide to apply to the Supreme Court for a leave of absence to appeal the decision.