Tony Accurso, a controversial construction mogul at the centre of a nearly four-year-long Quebec corruption scandal, was arrested Thursday morning by the RCMP’s anti-corruption squad on allegations of federal income-tax evasion.

The RCMP also arrested former Canada Revenue Agency auditor Adriano Furgiuele, Francesco Bruno, president of construction firm B.T. Céramique, and his former accountant Francesco Fiorino. A fifth man was arrested in connection with the investigation but has not been charged, said Cpl. Luc Thibault.

Each faces six charges of conspiracy, fraud, forgery and breach of trust by a public officer in an attempt to defraud the government of more than $3 million.

The arrests are the latest in a massive corruption imbroglio that has plagued Quebec since 2009, when allegations first surfaced linking criminal behaviour within the construction sector to municipal and provincial politics.

Accurso, whose myriad construction companies have acquired several high-profile infrastructure contracts over the years, has long been at the centre of the miasma.

In April, Quebec’s anti-corruption unit arrested Accurso and 13 others on charges relating to an alleged illegal contract-sharing system near the Montreal suburb of Mascouche, Que. The construction magnate faced six charges, including municipal corruption, fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust and defrauding the government.

He was thrust into the spotlight in 2009 when it was revealed Frank Zampino, former chair of Montreal’s executive committee, sailed on Accurso’s 119-foot yacht before one of the businessman’s companies was awarded a $355-million water-metre contract by the city. The contract was later cancelled and in May Zampino was charged with fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust after a two-and-a-half year investigation.

In December 2010, two of Accurso’s companies, Constructions Louisbourg Ltd. and Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc., pleaded guilty to tax evasion and paid fines exceeding $4.1 million. Bruno and B.T. Céramique pled guilty to tax evasion in February, 2011, and paid more than $1.3 million in fines.

Liberal Leader Jean Charest commented Thursday on the RCMP’s decision to make the high-profile arrests in the midst of a heated provincial election, where talk of anti-corruption tactics has dominated the campaign discourse.

“You have there an example of decisions that are made by police authorities,” he told reporters in Quebec City. “They may have 1,000 reasons why they choose to do an operation at one point in time, whatever the circumstances may be.”

As premier, Charest has faced ongoing accusations of fecklessness in halting rampant corruption within Quebec’s construction industry.

With Thursday’s charges, the RCMP alleges that former CRA officials helped Accurso and Bruno evade taxes using a phony invoice scheme.

The charges stem from an anti-corruption investigation, dubbed Project “Coche,” which dates back to 2008 after the CRA asked the RCMP to look into possible internal corruption. At that time, the CRA discovered a series of documents suggesting “accounting irregularities” at B.T. Céramique, according to the RCMP.

Among the documents, the RCMP said it found a 17-step plan, written by Furgiuele, designed to skirt CRA audits of companies belonging to Accurso and Bruno. The police said the plan was found in Fiorino’s Montreal office.

The RCMP claims that Bruno and Accurso also signed nominee agreements — a property ownership action in which a nominee performs transactions on behalf of the owner — using a fictitious person abroad. The strategy, according to investigators, would help the businessmen secure tax breaks.

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The four suspects are expected to appear at the Montreal courthouse on Sept. 19.

With files from The Canadian Press

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