Article Coffin

The following article is another example of the Canadian Justice System in Canada.

The Quebec Court of Appeal has ruled that Paul Coffin, who defrauded Ottawa of $1.5 million dollars in sponsorship program, will serve 18 months in jail.

For men like Coffin, jail time means nothing, as he will continue being a fraudster when he comes out of prison, irregardless if its for 18 months or 18 years.

Deals are made in jail and Coffin would continue doing his deals, thus the punishment should not be jail time, as jail time should only be reserved for dangerous offenders, i.e. pedophiles, child molesters, and murderers.

Coffin should be obligated and ordered by the court to payback all the money.

Coffin should be ordered to work in jobs that would humble him and not give him any sense of entitlement.

The house he lives in, should be sold to start paying his debt owed to the Canadian people. This would include his expensive car, and any other material goods worth a lot of money.

Also because of his criminal record, Coffin should no longer be allowed to travel abroad.

J4Y believes that Canada should lead the way in how it punishes wrongdoers.

For those convicted with a crime, jail does not cure them nor cure the disease of stealing and cheating, thus every convicted person should get a punishment, but not necessarily jail time.

The question is whether Coffin should spend any time in jail or should he be reduced to a humble life style and pay every cent owed to the Canadian People?

And if so, should Coffin also be treated like the Johns who frequent prostitutes?

Fraudsters of such high caliber, should not be revered but shamed for their criminal conduct.

Let's keep in mind that these kind of folk steal from working class people and not from those who can afford it, thus making them cowards and less than men.

Quebec court orders 18-month jail term for Paul Coffin for sponsorship fraud

Fri Apr 07, 04:29 PM EST

MONTREAL (CP) - A Quebec appeals court has ruled advertising executive Paul Coffin should serve 18 months in jail, a decision that could make him the first person to be incarcerated in connection with the sponsorship scandal.

The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned a lower court judgment that ordered advertising executive Paul Coffin to perform community service after he pleaded guilty to defrauding Ottawa of $1.5 million.

The three appeals judges agreed with the Crown's argument that Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Guy Boilard did not emphasize the seriousness of the crime when he sentenced Coffin to two years less a day, to be served in the community.

On Friday, Coffin was given three days to turn himself in to authorities, but he may not end up behind bars if his lawyer decides to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

His lawyer, Raphael Schachter, did not return calls.

The Crown had originally requested a prison sentence of 34 months.

The fraud committed by Coffin was premeditated, lasted over five years, involved a substantial amount and the accused was in a privileged position, the judges wrote in their ruling.

They pointed out that Coffin had prepared 373 fraudulent invoices over more than five years.

"The Crown is right: such fraud "risks creating among citizens, and particularly taxpayers, disillusion towards public institutions which are at the heart of democracy," they wrote.

The judges also disagreed with Boilard, who said Coffin had made a "complete restitution to the satisfaction of the victim."

Although the fraud totalled $1.5 million, the ad man paid only $1 million back to the federal government. While Boilard noted that Coffin had fully co-operated with the Gomery inquiry and was remorseful, the appeal judges said that only happened after he was ordered to appear before the Gomery inquiry.

They said that, except for mentioning the circumstances, Boilard never underlined the seriousness of the crimes, "which had, as an effect, to undermine the confidence of citizens toward public institutions."

As part of the original sentence, Coffin had to forfeit his passport and had a 9 p.m. curfew on weeknights. He was also ordered to lecture students at McGill University on business ethics.

The Montreal ad man was one of three people charged in the sponsorship scandal, along with former bureaucrat Chuck Guite and fellow ad man Jean Brault.

Guite's trial on five fraud charges is to begin May 2 with jury selection.

Brault, who pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud totalling $1.6 million, will be sentenced May 5.

Both face a conspiracy charge that will be dealt with separately.

The sponsorship program was designed to promote national unity in Quebec after the narrow federalist victory in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.

But the federal inquiry found that about $150 million of the $355 million earmarked for the program went to Liberal-friendly ad agencies and other middlemen.

Part of that cash flowed back to the Quebec wing of the federal Liberals - $800,000 in official donations and more than $1 million in under-the-table kickbacks.

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