The former executive director of the Liberal party's Quebec wing has been arrested and charged with defrauding his party.

Benoit Corbeil has been charged with influence peddling, fraud and conspiracy against the party and the federal government between 1997 and 2000.

Benoit Corbeil, former director-general of the Liberal Party's office in Montreal, was arrested Friday morning and charged with defrauding the party and the government.
(Paul Chiasson/Associated Press)

Police allege Corbeil conspired to defraud his party of more than $100,000 by authorizing payments of false invoices.

Police also allege that Corbeil received a large amount of money from a company in exchange for favours with respect to the purchase of a piece of land owned by the Canadian government.

RCMP Cpl. Luc Bessette said the charges are not directly linked to the sponsorship scandal, but come from a parallel investigation.

"This information was obtained through the investigation with regards to the sponsorship program," Bessette said.

During the Gomery inquiry into the sponsorship scandal, Corbeil testified that he distributed $50,000 in secret cash payments to eight party organizers for the 2000 election.

Corbeil said he received the $50,000 payment from Jean Brault, the former head of Groupaction Marketing. He said he redistributed the cash to Liberal party organizers ahead of the election.

Brault told the inquiry he worked with party officials, including Corbeil, to divert $1.1 million in cash to the party in exchange for sponsorship contracts.

Corbeil is to appear in court Friday afternoon.

In his report, then justice John Gomery concluded that Liberal politicians mismanaged the sponsorship program, and some Liberal party organizers in Quebec sought and received donations from ad companies that had received lucrative government contracts starting in the mid-1990s.

With files from the Canadian Press