Contraband tobacco: “The big sellers are acting in peace”

Ghislaine Perrault, 76-year-old admits that she has already sold contraband cigarettes. It regrets, however, to have received a fine of $ 290,000,
while “the big vendors have nothing”.

Pierre-Paul Biron

Wednesday, 21 February, 2018 00:00

UPDATE
Wednesday, 21 February, 2018 00:00

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The lady of 76 years who has been issued a fine of nearly $ 300,000 by Revenu Québec for his involvement in the smuggling of tobacco has against the government which, according to her, “attack the small, the vulnerable, while it lets the big sellers act in peace.”

Ghislaine Perreault does not scroll of the accusations leveled against it. She was selling contraband cigarettes, but asserts that it did not sell when the agents were stuck with 10,000 cigarettes, in October 2016.

“I had stopped smoking and stopped selling. I was only the intermediary between buyers in the block” remembers the septuagenarian.

Revenu Québec, however, indicates that Ms. Perreault was convicted of having sold a large quantity of cigarettes for two years.

“This is not only for entry, but also because it has recognized sold every month, for two years, and 20,000 cigarettes. The law calculates the tax payable per cigarette, therefore, multiplied by 480 000, in this case, which gives us a fine of 291 000 $”, explained the spokesman of the ministry of Revenue, Genevieve Laurier.

Address to the wrong people

The lady says in spite of everything shaken by the penalty. In his opinion, big players continue to act with impunity, while vulnerable people receive the bulk of the consequences.

“I have the impression that they do not attack good people. They have done nothing to the provider. They know it is, but have never been able to the stuck. Why?” asks the lady who has lost a lot in his misfortune.

“I admit that I ran after and I knew the risks. But at my age, $ 300,000 fine, this is not funny. I lost my rent for a small fee. They have me thrown out. I live with my pension and they are going to cut to pay for it”, she said, a sob in the voice, sitting in his apartment in the Limoilou area.

Scarred for life

Ms. Perreault is also said to live a lot of stress since the police went to her home on the night of 16 October 2016 to enter the tobacco. These memories brutal are for it in another sentence with which it has to live on a daily basis.

“I don’t sleep. As soon as it approach 0: 30 a.m. [the time when the police landed at her home], I become extremely nervous. I am afraid I hear the “bing! bang!” as it did when the seven or eight police officers came and they searched everywhere”, drops the lady, exhausted of all this history.