The Sponsorship Scandal - Quiet Please

I copy herein in full the Globe story of the crook who wept and gnashed his teeth at his sentencing yesterday.

I add that we are not moved.

DANIEL LEBLANC

OTTAWA — From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 12:00AM EST Last updated on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 3:11AM EST

Adman Gilles-André Gosselin had the gall at the time of the sponsorship program to frequently charge taxpayers for more than 24 hours of work in a single day.

The move was part of a systematic attempt to squeeze every penny out of federal contracts, even if it meant making up timesheets and fake invoices.

For his crimes against taxpayers, whom he defrauded of $655,000, a sobbing Mr. Gosselin was sent to a federal prison yesterday to serve a sentence of two years plus a day.

His lawyer said Mr. Gosselin, 62, is bankrupt and suffers from depression, heart problems and sleep apnea.

Madam Justice Lise Maisonneuve took those factors into account, but she insisted on a jail sentence, saying the one-time journalist was educated and well aware that he was committing fraud as president of his advertising firm from 1997 to 2000.

Mr. Gosselin said little during the 11/2-hour hearing, except to plead guilty at the start and to express remorse at the end.

"I'm sorry, I apologize," he said in tears, unable to add anything else.

Mr. Gosselin's firm, Gosselin Strategic Communications, was a major player in the sponsorship program, overseeing federal visibility at 500 events that received government funding.

He made $4-million from 1997 to 2000, but his remuneration was obtained in part through the submission of 81 fake invoices to Public Works Canada.

The court heard yesterday that Mr. Gosselin had instructed his staff to overcharge the government to maximize his company's revenues.