MONTREAL – Quebec’s revenue agency has slapped two businessmen and four companies with nearly 1,000 charges related to alleged tax evasion in the transport and construction industries.
Revenu Quebec is also seeking more than $6 million in fines as well as prison sentences.
In some of those charges, the provincial tax agency alleges false billing was done on behalf of a company owned by former Quebec construction magnate Tony Accurso.
The agency has filed 672 charges against Gilles Gauthier and two of his companies and is seeking more than $4 million in fines.
Revenu Quebec says his companies helped a number of firms to make false bills and claimed credits and refunds on those amounts between November 2005 and September 2009.
The firms included Constructions Louisbourg Ltd. and Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc., once owned by Accurso, as well as an excavation firm owned by Valmont Nadon.
Accurso was charged separately in June with more than 900 charges. A large part of his construction empire was sold to a consortium earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the agency has also filed 324 charges against Nadon and his excavation company, seeking $2.2 million in fines.
The charges come following seizures conducted by the agency in October 2011.
