QUEBEC JUDGE SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS

MONTREAL - A Quebec Superior Court judge was sentenced Friday to
three years in prison for laundering more than $1 million in drug money.

Robert Flahiff, 51, was convicted of laundering the money between 1989
and 1991 while he was a lawyer for a cocaine dealer.

The judge, who will remain free on bail pending an appeal, is still
receiving his salary despite his suspension from the bench two years
ago. He became a judge in 1993.

Flahiff's defense lawyers had pleaded for leniency, but Quebec Court
Judge Serge Boisvert said the offense deserved a stiff sentence.

"You submit that imprisonment could be more difficult for you than for
an ordinary citizen, given that you are a Superior Court judge," said
Boisvert. "This argument cannot be considered."

According to testimony, Flahiff began taking satchels of cash to a
branch of the Bank of Montreal in 1989. A former bank official
testified that Flahiff was allowed to enter the branch after business
hours with a sports bag containing thousands of dollars.

The bills were turned into bank drafts that ended up in Swiss
banks.

The defense acknowledged that Flahiff transferred money to Switzerland
for client Paul Larue, a cocaine dealer arrested in 1993, but denied
that Flahiff knew the funds were proceeds of crime.

Larue faced life imprisonment in the United States after he was caught
in a cocaine sting in 1993 in Burlington, Vt. He got 14 years after
agreeing to become a police informant against Flahiff.