By Paul Delean And Lynn Moore, Postmedia News
Claiming widespread tax fraud in the gold refining and trading sector, Revenue Quebec and police investigators this week conducted searches and seizures at 70 locations, mostly in the Montreal area.
No arrests were announced, but the tax department said Thursday it had reason to believe several people were involved in producing false invoices for a number of companies.
One of the targeted sites was the downtown Montreal location of Kitco, a major buyer and seller of gold. A note on the floor of its office on Thursday said that "operational constraints" had forced the service counter to close this week.
A spokesman said the company was before the courts Thursday seeking clarification of its rights, and would likely issue a statement Friday.
Revenue Quebec said two networks of companies and individuals were at the heart of a false-billing scheme that had cost the province more than $150 million in tax on almost $2 billion in transactions. In addition to Kitco and Carmen International Inc., it said almost 125 other companies had been complicit in the scheme.
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