JUDGE GETS THREE YEARS IN PRISON FOR LAUNDERING DRUG MONEY

MONTREAL (CP) - Justice Robert Flahiff of Quebec Superior Court was
sentenced to three years imprisonment Friday for laundering drug
money. But his lawyers immediately filed an appeal of the sentence,
paving the way for Flahiffs possible release from prison later Friday.

Flahiff was found guilty in January of laundering $1.7 million between
1989 and 1991 when he was still a lawyer. Crown prosecutor Bruno
Pateras was satisfied with the sentence handed out by Quebec Court
Judge Serge Boisvert.

"It shows that is a very serious offence," Pateras said. "The judge
said the offence - money laundering - helps drug traffickers."

Defence lawyers had sought a suspended sentence, saying Flahiff would
be at the mercy of criminal gangs if he were incarcerated.

The Crown had made no specific recommendation on sentencing except to
say Flahiff, 51, deserved to be imprisoned.

Flahiffs case, believed to be the first time a federally appointed
judge has been convicted of such a serious crime, is also being
investigated by the Canadian Judicial Council.

Flahiff was charged with laundering $1.7 million in drug money. He was
convicted of laundering more than $1,000; conspiracy to launder the
money; and being in possession of more than $1,000 knowing it was drug
money.

He was sentenced to three years in prison on each of the three counts.
He will serve them concurrently.

Flahiff, who is appealing the conviction, was acquitted on three other
charges.

He has been suspended with pay from his $175,800-a-year job for the
past two years. He was named to the bench in 1993.

The judicial council will begin hearing preliminary motions in his
case Monday. The inquiry will proceed March 29.

It takes a joint sitting of the Commons and the Senate to fire a
federal judge, something that has never happened. Judges have resigned
in the past before any such vote.

Defence lawyers Christian Desrosiers and Claude Girouard had asked for
leniency in the case. They said Flahiff would be in danger in prisons
controlled by criminal gangs.

Crown prosecutor Bruno Pateras argued that Flahiff made repeated
transactions for his client, convicted cocaine dealer Paul Larue.

Evidence at Flahiffs trial said he took satchels containing thousands
of dollars in cash to a bank purportedly from a client who had sold
his business.

The bills were converted into bank drafts and ended up in a Swiss
bank.

Larue became a police informant when he was caught and charged in the
United States after a cocaine sting. He is serving a
14-year-sentence.