No verdict Monday at Jacques Corriveau’s fraud trial in Montreal

MONTREAL – The jurors at Jacques Corriveau’s fraud trial will deliberate again on Tuesday after the fourth full day of deliberations came and went without a verdict.

The former federal Liberal organizer is charged with fraud against the government, forgery and laundering proceeds of crime.

Last week, the trial judge told the jury of eight men and four women they must decide whether Corriveau knowingly used his influence to secure himself about $6.5 million in kickbacks between 1997 and 2003.

The Crown has alleged Corriveau, now 83, set up a kickback system on government contracts awarded during the federal sponsorship program and used his Pluri Design Canada Inc. firm to defraud Ottawa.

But the defence says key witnesses were unreliable and the Crown failed to prove that Corriveau used his influence to secure any contracts.

The jury was sequestered on Thursday afternoon following a six-week trial.