Public Safety Minister St茅phane Bergeron said the senior officials being targeted are suspected of improperly using of a special-operations fund, in what would be the latest in a string of ethics controversies to rock the province.
That fund is intended for investigative operations, like paying informants. But Bergeron said people drew from it to pay severance packages as well as a consultant who had been barred from receiving government contracts because of his tax troubles.
Bergeron said that fund is also supposed to be rigorously accounted for.
He told a news conference Wednesday that the activities in question could have constituted a criminal offence for fraud and breach of trust.
Bergeron said he has created a special task force to investigate, comprising mostly retired police officers. He says he had to take that step because the legislature has yet to adopt a bill that would create a special-investigation unit in the province.
He said those being investigated have been suspended, with pay. While he did not mention their names at Wednesday鈥檚 news conference, media reports did identify the three high-ranking suspects.
Bergeron said the behaviour was uncovered when the Parti Qu茅b茅cois government replaced the head of the provincial police force after the election in September.
