A third suspect has been arrested in an alleged fraud case, in which three executives are charged with conspiring to defraud Atlas Copco of more than $16 million.

Paul Caron, 67, of Montreal was apprehended Oct. 15 as he entered Canada by way of Pierre Trudeau Airport. Arrangements are being made to return him to Sudbury where he will attend bail court.

Earlier this week, Dirk Plate, 68, and Leo Caron, 66, were arrested for the same alleged offence.

The charges come following a complaint by Atlas Copco that two of their senior executives conspired with the company’s health-care provider to increase monthly billing and produce fraudulent invoices. The excess money was split between the co-conspirators.

A Joint Forces fraud investigation was launched by the Greater Sudbury Police Service and the RCMP in April 2008, which led to the arrests.

Update: Atlas Copco makes statement about alleged fraud case

Andrew Lyon, general manager of Atlas Copco, has released a statement following the arrest of the three men who allegedly defrauded the company of more than $16 million. The statement follows.

“During the fall of 2007 Atlas Copco discovered financial irregularities in some of Atlas Copco’s business units in Canada. Following an internal investigation, Atlas Copco concluded that company funds had been misappropriated by certain employees over a period dating back to 1999. To Atlas Copco’s knowledge, no customers were affected in any way by this suspected fraud.

Atlas Copco takes matters of fraud very seriously and the employment of those believed to be involved was immediately terminated for cause. The local police authority was notified of the fraud scheme. Atlas Copco also initiated a civil law suit to recover the misappropriated funds.

A comprehensive police investigation has now led to the arrest of two former Atlas Copco managers, Dirk Plate and Leo Caron.

Given that the investigation is ongoing, we cannot make any further disclosures at this stage except to say that Atlas Copco will continue to co-operate fully with the law enforcement authorities.

Atlas Copco expects the highest ethical standards from its employees and will also in the future act quickly to address any breach of our code of conduct.”