The director of a daycare in eastern Montreal allegedly embezzled $6,000 in advance payments to the parents of a child who attended the establishment for only three days, we learned at her fraud trial.
Valérie Gagné was looking for part-time daycare for her two and a half year old child in August 2020 when she found the establishment Auxcoins des ami(e)s, on Hochelaga Street.
La Garderie Auxcoins des amis(e)s, on Hochelaga Street in Montreal.
Photo Pascal Dugas Bourdon
The director of the daycare, Fatima El Boukhari, then stressed to her that it was a “subsidized establishment in the making” and that the daycare costs amounted to $8.35 per day, testified Ms. Gagné Tuesday morning at the Montreal courthouse.
“She told me there would be an amount deposited into my account by the government, and it would be withdrawn at the same time. It was for the grant. […] The word advance payment was never mentioned,” said the 43-year-old mother.
This is because the accused completed, in the name of the parents and without their knowledge, a request for advance payment of the tax credit for childcare expenses from Revenu Québec. The residence address would also have been changed so that parents would not receive communications related to these requests.
In the end, Valérie Gagné’s little one stayed less than a week at Aux coin des ami(e)s daycare. But she saw payments of $1,550 coming in and out of her bank account for four months, from September to December 2020.
“Since the parents signed pre-authorized withdrawals, [l’accusée] had access to the accounts. Either the documents were completed without their knowledge, or they thought it was a grant and not a tax credit,” explained Crown prosecutor Me Sarah-Audrey Daigneault during her opening statement.
In all, nearly ten parents are expected to come forward and testify that they were victims of a similar scheme in the coming days.
The trial for fraud and forgery, presided over by Judge Salvatore Mascia, is scheduled for six days.
More details will follow…
