Former ad executive Jean Lafleur pleaded guilty in Montreal Friday to 28 fraud charges related to the federal sponsorship scandal.

Lafleur, 66, was originally facing 35 counts of fraud. The Crown dropped the other seven charges.

Jean Lafleur, shown in February 2005 at the Gomery Commission, is in custody awaiting a sentencing hearing on June 1.
(Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

He will be detained until sentencing, which has been scheduled for June 1.

The Crown will seek a jail sentence for Lafleur, said prosecutor Anne-Marie Beauchemin. 

"He could definitely face a jail term. I'll be effectively asking for a jail term."

Lafleur was accused of defrauding the government of almost $1.6 million in contracts his advertising firm secured through the troubled federal sponsorship program designed to increase the federal government's profile in Quebec.

His advertising firm was paid $65 million through the federal sponsorship program between 1995 and 2003. Lafleur was accused of billing for work that was never done.

Lafleur, former president of Lafleur Marketing and Communications, is the fifth person charged in the sponsorship scandal. Others convicted in the scandal include former federal bureaucrat Chuck Guité and former ad executives Jean Brault and Paul Coffin.

He was scorned by the public during the Gomery inquiry into scandal when he claimed he had a bad memory and couldn't recall basic details about his relationships and dealings with several prominent Liberal party members.

Lafleur surrendered to police at Trudeau International Airport on April 5 after returning voluntarily from Belize. A Canada-wide warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Prior to his arrest, Lafleur had spent much of the past two years living in Belize and Costa Rica.

With files from the Canadian Press