Jean Lafleur charged with 35 counts of fraud in AdScam scandal still on the lam
By Judi McLeod, CanadaFree Press

The long arm of the law is trying to catch up with Party Boy Jean Lafleur, a key figure in Canada's Liberal Party sponsorship scandal.

Lafleur, charged with 35 counts of fraud totaling nearly $1.6 million, has been AWOL since June 2005.

The fraud allegedly occurred between 1996 and 2001, and police have issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for the elusive, 66-year-old advertising executive.

Lafleur went on the lam years ago. His colleagues, former ad men Jean Brault and Paul Coffin, sentenced to 30 months and 18 months respectively, and Charles Giuite, the former bureaucrat who ran the program, sentenced to 42 months, weren't so elusive.

In a warrant for his arrest, investigators say Lafleur's driver's license has expired and he has not been seen at his apartment since he moved there in 2005.

Lafleur and his company were awarded contracts by Liberal governed Ottawa worth about $65 million between 1995 and 2003--including a whopping $36.5 million in commissions, fees and expenses.

During Justice John Gomery's inquiry into the sponsorship scandal, when former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien showed off his golf balls among the many gifts bestowed upon him, the heat was on the Liberals.

Lafleur said he couldn't remember much about his part in the program. Gomery's legal read on it was that Lafleur was just being evasive.

"It was obvious that the commission was hearing a witness who wished to appear slow-witted rather than give truthful answers," Gomery wrote in his report.

While in the "not seen since" category, Lafleur "reportedly spent some time living in Costa Rica" according to media reports.

That description is bound to give a belly laugh to the Costa Rican neighbors who tipped off Canada Free Press (CFP) in November of 2005 that the AdScam shyster was living--loudly--on the hog in their country.

On the very day that Gomery's report was tabled, Costa Ricans were hoping there would be enough of a bombshell to rid their land forever of the high-living Liberal advertising executive.

"Living high off the hog in the tropics, Lafleur is a notorious 24-7 party boy, who in another era would have given the likes of Reginald Vanderbilt a run for his money," CFP wrote on Nov. 2, 2005.

"Ever since good fortune landed him in San Rafael de Escazu, Monsieur Lafleur and his constant, 30-year-old companion "Larry", has been living the life of the wanton playboy."

Larry turned out to be Tico Larry Umana, described as a "Mama's boy".

But Laflleur's chosen hidey-hole with Larry in beautiful Costa Rica was causing sleepless nights for his nonplussed neighbours, who were privy to his checkered past.

Costa Ricans, who kept waiting for the law to catch up with him, wanted the party boy out of their apartment complex, tout suite.

"If I were someone like him, I would be keeping a lower profile," a neighbour complained to CFP at the time. "He is so inebriated, I don't know how he drives his car. I am sure he is trying to drown his sorrows, but I can tell you that most of the money is here, or in some other Central or South American bank account."

When Lafleur first arrived in San Rafael de Escazu to rent his apartment, he was in the company of his Canadian lawyer and an assistant, neighbours said.

According to his neighbours, Lafleur owned a finca (ranch) in the Guanacaste area of the Pacific Coast, and was thought to own a house in Puntarenas as well.

He spent time traveling to Belize.

Back at the apartment complex, a typical neighbour complaint was that he and Larry woke them in the middle of the night when they got their floors mixed up.

"He (Lafleur) is one of the rudest, most inconsiderate people on the face of this planet. He and his boyfriends party and drink seven days a week, with no concern or consideration for others."

It was ditto as far as building management and guards were concerned.

Guards were tired of hauling empty liquor bottles away.

Building management referred to Lafleur's conduct as "scandalous".

The same neighbors were surprised to hear today that Lafleur has yet to be caught by Canadian authorities.

"Wherever he is, he's sure to be making a spectacle of himself," said one.

Meanwhile, maybe while the law is in sunny Costa Rica, they should look up other Liberals in hiding.

Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Judi can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com.