Chris Lowrey
PONTIAC March 21, 2018
The MRC Pontiac is poring over its financial books after discovering it had been defrauded of more than $170,000 over five years.
The discovery was made in August of last year when an MRC employee noticed irregularities in the MRC’s accounting department.
Once the irregularity was discovered, MRC staff approached the law firm that was responsible for the processing of municipal fines related to bylaw infractions.
The law firm, RPGL Avocats, conducted an internal investigation and found that one of its former employees had allegedly defrauded the MRC of more than $170,000 since January of 2012.
Sûreté du Québec officers arrested the 52-year-old woman from Fort Coulonge on March 14.

She was scheduled to appear at the Gatineau Courthouse on March 15 and could face charges of fraud, forgery, using forged documents and identity fraud.
The money was defrauded from payments issued for municipal bylaw violations.
The MRC has since been reimbursed in full by RPGL.
MRC Pontiac Director General Bernard Roy said that RPGL has been extremely cooperative throughout the entire process.
Officials were tight-lipped about the specifics of the case as an investigation is still ongoing.
Although the MRC believes this is an isolated case, Roy said the MRC will go over all other files to make sure there are no other irregularities. The MRC will also re-evaluate the framework that is in place and see if any changes can be made that will improve security.
The MRC also said it is looking at re-opening its agreement with RPGL, but Roy said he wasn’t sure when that will happen.
The MRC and RPGL have worked together for more than 11 years. RPGL has collected and managed the payment of fines issued for municipal bylaw infractions since 2006.
“This is a reminder that we have to be more vigilant,” Roy said in a press release. “It’s a bitter lesson we are learning along with RPGL.”
Roy said he hopes that by the end of May, MRC staff will have a report on the rest of the MRC’s finances.