$ 2.2 million claims: Farmer tractors and equipment seized

Reve Quebec could not finish with a Monterey-based farm producer who made headlines last year for “selling” Guatemalan workers to other farmers.

Rev. Quebec claims to have legal powers to “seize and remove property” belonging to the number company and farmer Jean Lemey in Saint-Jude, near Saint-Hyacinth.

“His claims, established under the Energy Tax Act, the Tax Act (source deductions) and the Quebec Sales Tax Act, amount to more than $ 2.2 million,” Revenue Quebec said in a press release.

With this, the government agency has been able to seize tractors, farm equipment and trailers in the last few days.

Reve Quebec has also documented movable legal hypotheses.

Mr. This company from Lemay is not in the first problem with Revenu Québec.

In 2012, his company was fined $ 63,098 for filing false or misleading tax returns.

Eight years later, in September 2020, the company and its sole director, Jean Lemme, were once again fined $ 52,000 for tax evasion.

Finally, last fall, the founder found himself in a scandal involving foreign workers.

According to officials, Jean Leme hired about 150 Guatemalan workers who worked under conditions that did not meet his standards.

He reportedly worked some of them seven days a week and sold their services to other farmers in the area.

Many of them were unpaid, though they had to pay for food and lodging at Mr. Lemme’s facilities.

The workers were finally “rescued” by Sûreté du Québec and an aid organization for migrant workers.

Jean Leme was banned for life from a foreign worker recruitment program because he violated federal hiring law by failing to receive the wages and conditions of an initial job offer.

He was also fined nearly $ 200,000.