Advertising executive Jean Brault, a key figure in the Liberal sponsorship scandal, has been granted full parole after serving five months of a 30-month sentence, according to a report.

The Montreal Gazette reported that the National Parole Board made the decision Friday to grant parole.

Jean Brault before his sentencing at the Montreal courthouse on May 5, 2006, in Montreal.
(Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Commissioner Pierre Cadieux said in his written decision that Brault was a low risk to re-offend and has a job waiting for him. He also noted that Brault suffered from health problems that required hospitalization during his time in federal prison.

Brault, 54, pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and was sentenced on May 5.

As head of Groupaction Marketing, he was one of several communications executives accused of overbilling Ottawa for contracts designed to shore up support for the federal government in the wake of the 1995 sovereignty referendum in Quebec.

In court, he admitted to filing bogus invoices for $1.6 million for work of little or no value.

Chuck Guité, the director of the sponsorship program, was sentenced to 3½ years in prison for defrauding the federal government of approximately $1.5 million. He was released on bail pending an appeal of his conviction.

Executive Paul Coffin, of Coffin Communications, was released from prison in July after serving three months of an 18-month sentence.

Coffin was charged before the announcement of a public inquiry in 2004, which was chaired by Justice John H. Gomery. Guité and Brault were charged later.

Meanwhile, Jacques Paradis of Publicités Martin faces fraud charges in a criminal trial that is expected to begin in December.

Gomery issued a stinging indictment of the Liberal party, particularly the Jean Chrétien government, and issued a series of recommendations to make government agencies more accountable.

Chrétien, his former chief of staff Jean Pelletier and former minister Alfonso Gagliano have legally challenged the findings of the Gomery report, with the Federal Court expected to begin hearing the challenges in the spring of 2007.