Former Quebec cop files defamation suit against Surete du Quebec
Posted Nov 30, 2013 10:31:38 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
QUEBEC – A former Quebec police officer has filed a $1.5 million defamation suit against the current director of Surete du Quebec, revealing a secret deal that cost the forces former director his job.
The now retired Chabot worked for the force for 32 years, and accuses the force of leaking information about the secret deal to the media to harm him and former boss Richard Deschenes.
Chabot was Dechenes assistant director of criminal investigations at the police force.
Chabot filed the lawsuit Wendesday in a Quebec court, and in the papers he admits recieving a $170,000 retirement bonus from Deschenes.
According to Chabot, the back room deal made him uncomfortable and that he and the force had agreed to the tax-free bonus in writing.
Deschenes was reassigned by the Parti Quebecois government shortly after they were elected in the fall of 2012.
Neither Chabot nor Deschenes have been charged with any crime, but the Minister of Public Safety, Stéphane Bergeron, confirmed an investigation in to the alleged use of funds is on-going.
“The alleged facts are extremely disturbing. I am aware of the commotion that causes the current situation. Arrangements show that nobody is above the law, ” Mr. Bergeron explained to La Presse at the time, adding the investigation focused on possible breach of trust.
Chabot, a 32-year veteran of the force, also accused the PQ of leaking information about the secret deal to the media to harm him and Deschenes.
Chabot’s lawsuit also names some current provincial politicians, including, PQ Policy Director Mario Laprise, Bergeron and Bergeron’s deputy minister, Martin Prud’homme.
The suit says these three are the only ones who “could have known the information leaked to the media.”
