CONVICTED QUEBEC JUDGE RESIGNS

Chief Justice Calls Off Probe On Robert Flahiff

MONTREAL (CP) -- Robert Flahiff, the Quebec Superior Court justice convicted
of laundering $1.7 million in drug money, has given up his battle to hang on
to his judge's position.

Flahiff resigned from the bench after failing to stop an investigation by
his peers into whether he was fit to remain a federally appointed judge.

"My action today, replete with its consequences, is the expression of my
profound respect for the position and for the people who hold it," he said
in a letter to Justice Minister Anne McLellan.

"The situation I am living through dictates that the common good take
precedence over personal interest."

Flahiff's lawyer, Christian Desrosiers, broke the news to the Canadian
Judicial Council committee investigating Flahiff's capacity to sit on the bench.

Joseph Daigle, chief justice of New Brunswick and president of the
investigating panel, declared an end to the council's hearings which began
March 1.

It was the first time in the council's 28-year history that it has had to
hold a formal inquiry as a result of a criminal conviction of a judge.

Flahiff, 51, was named to the bench in 1993 after a 21-year career as a
criminal lawyer, first in legal aid then in private practice.

In 1997, he was charged with having laundered cocaine money when he was
still a practising lawyer. The charges, relating to bank transactions
between 1989 and 1991, capped a four-year investigation by Montreal and
Quebec police as well as the RCMP.

He was found guilty last January. Flahiff is appealing both his conviction
and his three-year prison sentence but the case is not expected to be heard
before the fall.

"Given the panel's refusal to grant a suspension until the end of the
appeal, my client has decided that it was in his and society's best interest
to resign," Desrosiers told reporters.

"He has offered his resignation while affirming his intention to vigorously
fight his criminal conviction before the appeals court."

In quitting, Flahiff gives up a $175,800 annual salary. He has been off work
since January, 1997 on paid sick leave.