'King of Laval' Gilles Vaillancourt sentenced to 6 years in prison

Former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt has been sentenced to six years forfraud, breach of trust and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Vaillancourt, who was mayor of Laval for 23 years until his arrest in 2013,reached a plea deal with the Crown last month that called for a six year prison sentence, with parole eligibility after one year.

The sentence was approved Thursday byQuebec Superior Court JusticeJamesBrunton.

In his decision, JusticeBrunton said the former mayor took advantage of his position and that he deserves the recommended sentence of sixyears.

Vaillancourt, in handcuffs and a dress shirt and black coat, stood to receive his sentence with the help of a guard.

The agreement also includesa commitment to repay the city $7million from a Swiss bank account, as well as more than $1 million in other assets, including his condominium. He is also waiving his pension.

Charges date back to anti-corruption sweep

Vaillancourtwas arrested in March 2013 along with 36 others as part of a sweepby the province's anti-corruption unit, known asUPAC.

He was originally facing12 charges, including conspiracy, fraud, influence peddling, breach of trust and gangsterism.

The gangsterism charges have beendropped as part of the plea deal.

Thirty-three of Vaillancourt'sco-accused are still slated to stand trial.

As part of the agreement, Vaillancourtadmitted that he knew about a system of corruption and collusion within his administration at Laval city hall.

The police investigation, which was dubbed Project Honor, looked into a system of corruption related to the awarding of public contracts by the City of Laval between 1996 and 2010.

Vaillancourt also admitted that during that time, certain sums of money were transferred from Canada to Switzerland, into various accounts held or controlled by Vaillancourt.

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