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The former head of the Lester B. Pearson School Board’s international department pleaded guilty to forgery charges filed against her nearly four years ago following an investigation by Quebec’s permanent anti-corruption unit.
Caroline Mastantuono, 61, of Laval pleaded guilty to forgery and trafficking or possessing a forged document. The schemes involved international students who wanted to study in Quebec. She pleaded guilty on May 13, but this was kept under a publication ban until it was lifted during a hearing held at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday.
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Mastantuono’s case enters the sentencing stage in September, and two other people charged in the same UAPC investigation still have charges pending against them.
According to a joint statement of facts filed into the court record when Mastantuono pleaded guilty, the UPAC probe, dubbed Project Pandore, began on Dec. 2, 2016 and investigated “allegations of fraud, fabrication, use of forged documents and abuse of trust at the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB).”
The schemes involved foreign students who wished to enrol in an educational program in Quebec. In order to do so, foreign students had to obtain a Quebec Acceptance Certificate before the start of their studies. If the student didn’t have legal status to reside in Canada, they had to receive a study permit from Immigration and Citizenship Canada.
According to the joint statement of facts: “The Crown, through the evidence presented at trial, would discharge the burden incumbent upon them in a criminal trial to establish that Mastantuono instructed the staff to forge false receipts of tuition payment, which attested that the students had paid their tuition in full, even if that was not the case. That evidence would also demonstrate that the staff were instructed to forge these documents for students of Indian origin, as they were told that those students did not show sufficient financial capacity and the receipt of payment was necessary for the issuance of the Quebec Acceptance Certificate.”
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The company that allegedly benefitted from the forgeries was owned by a Blainville resident who is charged in the same case as Mastantuono. It recruited students from India seeking to study in Quebec.
The company billed LBPSB for the recruitment commission of the students.
“The evidence demonstrates that 81 receipts were produced in this manner. These 81 receipts represent a sum of $1,648 281,” according to the statement of facts.
Two school board employees noticed that some international students who they knew applied without a recruiting agent were assigned to a recruitment agency based in British Columbia. It turned out to be registered to the wife of the man from Blainville who is charged in the same case. The school board already had a history of problems with the same company since 2013.
“The evidence at trial would demonstrate that a total of 25 students recruited without an agent were attributed to the B.C. company. Sixteen of these students were contacted by (investigators) and confirmed they did not use a recruitment agency to apply to a LBPSB educational program. The total of commissions paid to the B.C. company concerning those students amounts to $76,698,” the court was told on May 13 when Mastantuono pleaded guilty.
The owner of the recruitment company has a court date scheduled at the Montreal courthouse for next week.
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