Crab are shown on the dock at St. John's Harbour on Thursday, May 6, 2021. A federal Fisheries and Oceans Canada employee in Newfoundland and Labrador, is facing five criminal charges, including bribery. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly
STEPHENVILLE, N.L. – A federal Fisheries Department employee in Newfoundland and Labrador is accused of accepting bribes of seafood.
Scott Fortune, 32, has been charged with forgery, falsifying documents, accepting bribes and two counts of fraud.
Documents from the provincial court in Stephenville, N.L., alleged that Fortune was bribed with “pans of crab” to help fishers hide the true amount of crab they had harvested.
He is accused of falsifying the actual weight of the harvested seafood and forging a document.
The charge sheet says the alleged offences took place between January 2021 and June of this year.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2023.
