From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Canada Revenue Agency auditors face charges in tax-evasion scheme : CRA SOTW   
      
   RCMP tax-corruption probe: Two ex-CRA officials and chartered accountant   
   arrested   
   Trio is believed to have used several schemes to help companies evade federal   
   taxes   
      
   By JAN RAVENSBERGEN, THE GAZETTE May 23, 2013   
      
    MONTREAL — A five-year-long probe by the RCMP into fraud schemes involving   
   Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) insiders — one that yielded an arrest last summer   
   of construction magnate Antonio Accurso — netted three fresh arrests early   
   Thursday.   
      
   “New charges were laid against chartered accountant Francesco Fiorino as well   
   as two of his accomplices,” the Mounties announced.   
      
   Fiorino’s alleged accomplices — Gennaro Di Marzio, 49, and Nicola Iammarrone,   
   53 — are former CRA officials.   
      
   Along with Accurso, Fiorino and Di Marzio were also arrested last Aug. 9   
   during an earlier phase of the investigation into alleged tax-evasion scams   
   involving prominent figures in the construction business and participants   
   within CRA ranks.   
      
   The CRA is responsible for administering the federal taxation system.   
      
   In the earlier phase of what the RCMP calls Project Coche, about $3 million of   
   federal tax was apparently evaded between 2007 and 2007.   
      
   The figure is higher for the latest arrests, the RCMP said: “The amount of the   
   alleged fraud in this part of the investigation is estimated at $4.5 million.”   
      
   The trio arrested Thursday is “believed to have used various schemes to evade   
   federal income tax,” it said in a news release.   
      
   Fiorino is alleged to have “offered his clients to reduce their tax burden in   
   exchange for a sum of money.”   
      
   Persons inside CRA apparently got payoffs:   
      
   Fiorino “allegedly set up a bribery scheme that made it possible for a number   
   of public officers to pocket several hundred thousand dollars.”   
      
   Corp. Luc Thibault of the Mounties said he was not in a position to provide a   
   more exact dollar amount.   
      
   Investigators believe that Di Marzio and Iammarrone, CRA insiders at the time,   
   “used the money received to bribe other public officers reporting to them so   
   they would circumvent tax audits,” the Mountie statement said.   
      
   Iammarrone had been arrested in the past, and subsequently released, Thibault   
   said.   
   Di Marzio had not been charged Aug. 9 after being arrested and questioned.   
      
   He had, however, been named in the August indictment as a co-conspirator.   
      
   Fiorino, 54, faces 34 counts of indictment for bribery of public officers;   
   involvement in breach of trust by a public officer; fraud against the   
   government; as well as fraud.   
      
   Di Marzio faces 11 similar counts.   
      
   Iammarrone faces 12 counts of the same nature, “in addition to being charged   
   with obstruction of justice,” the Mounties said.   
      
   A fourth individual was arrested simultaneously Thursday morning, for   
   questioning.   
   The news release did not provide his name.   
      
   The Coche probe by the RCMP Anti-Corruption Unit into allegations of   
   corruption among CRA officials began in 2008.   
      
   “Several components of the investigation are still ongoing,” Thursday’s   
   release added. “Additional arrests and charges are expected.”   
      
   Following last summer’s round of arrests, it emerged that a search of   
   Fiorino’s office in May 2008 had proven especially fruitful for CRA   
   investigators.   
      
   They apparently found a handwritten document, labelled as “plan of action,” on   
   Fiorino’s desk, in the handwriting of Adriano Furgiuele. The RCMP later   
   alleged that it laid out 17 steps “designed to circumvent legitimate audits of   
   the companies owned by”    
   Accurso and Francesco Bruno, a cousin of Furgiuele.   
      
   At the time, Furgiuele was a CRA auditor.   
      
   He was fired by the tax agency in 2009.   
      
   Furgiuele was also among those arrested Aug. 9.   
      
   Bruno, who is a cousin of Furgiuele, is also the owner of B.T. Céramique, the   
   Anjou-based company whose finances touched off a CRA investigation back in   
   2007.   
      
   That eventually resulted in the dismissal of at least nine auditors from CRA’s   
   Montreal office, along with tax-evasion charges against two of Accurso’s   
   companies, B.T. Céramique and Bruno personally.   
      
   Federal National Revenue Minister Gail Shea commented on the arrests Thursday.   
      
   “I consider any misconduct by CRA officials disturbing,” she said. “Over the   
   last few years, the CRA has worked with the RCMP to clean up the situation at   
   the Montreal Tax Services Office. We are committed to cracking down on crime   
   and protecting the    
   integrity of our tax system. I am pleased with the RCMP’s most recent   
   progress.”   
      
   Thursday’s statement by the Mounties invited “the public to report any   
   information on federal officials suspected of corruption and/or fraud against   
   the federal government to the investigators of the RCMP Anti-Corruption Unit   
   at 514-939-8304.”   
      
   janr@montrealgazette.com   
   © Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette   
      
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