SAINT-BRUNO-DE-MONTARVILLE, Que. - Jacques Corriveau has been described as a crony of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, a liar and the "central figure'' in the federal sponsorship scandal.
On Wednesday, RCMP very publicly added central figure in a criminal investigation to the list.
Police descended on the one-time businessman and Liberal fundraiser's swank suburban Montreal home armed with a search warrant.
"They're looking for mainly documents and computer data and different things like that,'' said RCMP Cpl. Sylvain L'Heureux.
"It's a search in the course of an investigation. It's an investigation that started in October 2006, so it's a follow-up to the other investigations in the sponsorship file.''
The sponsorship program was designed to increase federal government presence in Quebec after the slim federalist victory in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.
The search at the residence in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, southeast of Montreal, began at 7:30 a.m. By early afternoon, police had carted out about 50 boxes of documents.
For neighbours, and for anyone familiar with the public inquiry by Justice John Gomery, the raid came as no surprise.
"What are you going to do? They have to investigate everything,'' said Mildred Wilkins, who lives across the street from Corriveau's ranch-style home.
"I'm not surprised,'' echoed another neighbour who couldn't resist a peek as police guarded the house.
Inside, behind drawn curtains, Corriveau remained as police pored over his records.
Gomery laid much of the blame for the multimillion-dollar scandal on Corriveau, a longtime friend of Chretien, who worked on the former prime minister's leadership bids in 1984 and 1990.
At one time, Corriveau was one of the highest-ranking federal Liberals in Quebec.
Corriveau testified at the inquiry in 2005. He has never been charged but Gomery made it clear he believed very little of what Corriveau had to say.
"Jacques Corriveau was the central figure in an elaborate kickback scheme by which he enriched himself personally and provided funds and benefits to the (Quebec wing of the Liberal party),'' Gomery wrote in his report.
Corriveau began his testimony with a warning that his memory wasn't very good.
"At my age, it's sometimes easier to remember events from long ago than recent events,'' he told Gomery two years ago.
Over the course of that testimony, some of his answers changed but on one point he was consistent: He denied any wrongdoing.
The sponsorship program was designed to increase the federal government presence in Quebec after the No side's slim victory in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.
Over the years, Corriveau's Pluri-Design firm earned nearly $8 million in sponsorship business.
Gomery found that payments to the Liberal party from Corriveau and nine ad firms totalled more than $2.5 million -- including at least $679,000 in illicit cash.
To Wilkins, Corriveau is a good and considerate neighbour who takes care of his ailing wife.
"I can't figure out how he got involved in all this,'' she said as she raked her lawn across the street from police.
She said investigators should go "to the top of the line'' instead of focusing on middle men.
"I just feel he was maybe railroaded into this and ended up with the short end of the stick,'' she said. "I think it'll be very hard on him personally.''
Five people have been charged in the scandal.
Ad executive Jean Lafleur was ordered to pay back $1.6 million and sentenced to four years in jail, the harshest sentence of those charged.
Others sentenced were former ad men Jean Brault and Paul Coffin who were handed 30 months and 18 months respectively. Former federal bureaucrat Chuck Guite was sentenced to 42 months. Jacques Paradis, who was charged with defrauding the federal government of $58,000, was acquitted earlier this year.
L'Heureux said no arrests were imminent Wednesday.
