Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jan 2013 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: Jan Ravensbergen JUDGE SIDELINED BY DRUG-DEAL ALLEGATIONS Named As Cocaine Buyer In Aftermath Of SQ And RCMP'S Operation Ecrevisse Quebec Superior Court Judge Michel Girouard will remain sidelined for at least several months - and won't issue any judicial decisions - after a police informant in a drug probe raised allegations the judge had "bought some drugs from him over 20 years ago," the court's chief justice said Tuesday. "Yes," Chief Justice Francois Rolland responded when asked whether the drug alleged to have been involved was cocaine. The allegations have not been proved or aired in court. "I've talked with him on several occasions" since the matter arose, Rolland said of his sidelined judicial colleague, and "I can assure you that he denies categorically the allegations - all of the allegations." "These allegations surfaced in the course of the trials following Operation Ecrevisse," Rolland added. That 2010 drug-ring sweep in the Abitibi region was conducted by some 370 Surete du Quebec and RCMP officers. Thus far, it has yielded almost 100 arrests and a wide array of criminal charges. A complaint against Girouard was filed with the Canadian Judicial Council on Nov. 30, 2012. Girouard was appointed to the bench in September 2010, for the Abitibi-Rouyn-Noranda-Temiscamingue region. "This is not a suspension. We've asked Justice Girouard not to sit, not to hear any cases, because when you are a judge you have to have serenity," Rolland told The Gazette, and Girouard is now "not in a position to hear cases with serenity. So we have decided not to give him any cases, pending the results of the investigation." Although off the bench, Girouard will remain on the court's payroll. His scheduled cases will be taken by other judges, Rolland added. Rolland has asked for results from the council's investigation "as quickly as possible," he added. He suggested this would take at least "a few months" and "could take as long as six months to complete." "And if the allegations are serious enough, then they could form a panel and it could take longer. It's premature to say how long it would take." The police informant first raised the unproven allegations last spring, Rolland said, and "this was communicated to me last fall, in October or November." In a separate statement, another judge in a lower court, Quebec Court Judge Marc Grimard, also isn't being assigned any fresh cases. "Allegations that have been brought" with regard to Grimard, who also sits in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region, "are being taken very seriously by the court's management," according to the four-paragraph statement posted on the court's website. "For the time being, no new files will be assigned to Judge Grimard," Rolland said. Although that statement did not detail the allegations regarding Grimard, the Le Devoir newspaper and the TVA website linked them with alleged cocaine purchases. "We cannot comment in order not to affect the judicial process," Sgt. Martine Asselin of the Surete du Quebec said. In the case of Grimard, the Quebec Court specified, "according to what has been brought to its attention, the allegations concern the period before the nomination of Mr. Grimard as a judge." He was appointed to the bench in 2004. "As part of the review" of Girouard requested by Rolland, Laporte of the Canadian Judicial Council said, "all relevant information will be carefully considered by the vice-chairman" of that body's judicial conduct committee. "Decisions about a judge's duties while a complaint is being reviewed are not matters for the council to decide," Laporte said. "All such decisions are for the judge and the judge's chief justice to decide." In a later media statement, the council noted Girouard "will have a full opportunity to make representations about the allegations." Almost 50 suspects were arrested when the initial public phase of Operation Ecrevisse was carried out over two days in early October 2010. Officers seized two kilograms of cocaine in powder and crack form; two kilograms of hashish; six pounds of hallucinogenic mushrooms; 300 pot plants; 75 weapons, including two machine guns; about $900,000 cash; 41 vehicles; a helicopter, and a light aircraft. More arrests followed in subsequent months. Charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy were added during 2011 to earlier charges of gangsterism, possession and trafficking of firearms, conspiracy and trafficking of drugs, production of cannabis; importation of cocaine and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D