Quebec promises to pass on Norbourg assets

The province of Quebec has promised to pass on to investors all the assets that it collects from Norbourg, a mutual fund company that went bankrupt owing millions.

Lawrence Bergman, Quebec's revenue minister, said Wednesday that Quebec has already collected $6 million from Vincent Lacroix, the former president of the mutual-fund group, and it expects to collect an additional $18 million.

That sum will be passed on to Norbourg's 9,000 investors, Bergman told Canadian Press.

"I am very sensitive to the plight of these investors and I feel for them," Bergman said.

Bergman said the province waited to make its announcement until Lacroix had confirmed he would not appeal a Quebec Superior Court ruling that declared him bankrupt and ordered his assets seized.

In his May 19 decision, Justice Robert Mongeon said Lacroix stole from investors, used the mutual-fund group to launder money, and defrauded the provincial Revenue Department and others with false declarations and financial statements.

Mongeon concluded that a best-case scenario would see Lacroix's assets total $37 million, compared with the $60 million being sought by creditors.

According to the judge, the amounts owed creditors include $18 millionto the Quebec Revenue Department, $12 millionto Revenue Canada and at least $24 millionto RSM Richter, the accounting firm that is managing Norbourg's remaining assets.

RSM Richter is actually seeking $37 million, Canadian Press said.

Norbourg's problems came to light last summer when Quebec's financial regulator discovered a $130-million discrepancy between the company's financial results and its assets under management.