Chuck Guité, the former civil servant in charge of the federal sponsorship program, has been convicted of fraud.

A jury in Montreal on Tuesday found Guité guilty on all five charges he faced involving allegations that he defrauded the federal government.

Chuck Guité leaves a Montreal courtroom earlier this week. The jury deliberated for 35 hours over seven days before finding him guilty. (Ian Barrett/Canadian Press)
Chuck Guité leaves a Montreal courtroom earlier this week. The jury deliberated for 35 hours over seven days before finding him guilty. (Ian Barrett/Canadian Press)

Guité, who was immediately taken into custody, said he would continue to act as his own lawyer and would appeal the verdict.

He requested a day or two to seek legal advice in order to prepare arguments for his sentencing hearing on Friday.

Guité faces as much as 14 years in prison.

At the beginning of the trial, Crown attorney Jacques Dagenais told jurors that Guité's crimes cost taxpayers more than $1.6 million.

He said Guité approved one research contract worth $400,000 that would have received a failing grade had it been submitted by a first-year marketing student.

The case against Guité involved five contracts he approved — two of them covering the firearms program and the remaining three involving efforts to increase the federal government's visibility after the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum.

Guité was one of the key figures in the so-called sponsorship scandal that gave the former Liberal government a black eye leading up to the 2004 and 2006 general elections.

In May, another key figure in the scandal was sentenced to 30 months in jail.

Jean Brault, who ran Groupaction Marketing, pleaded guilty to five of six fraud-related charges. He admitted to filing bogus invoices for work of little or no value.