In the postcard-perfect town of Escazu, Costa Rica, all some residents want for Christmas is an end of party boy Canadian Jean Lafleur in their midst.
Late-night bacchanals starring Lafleur and his constant companion "Larry" have launched Lafleur as "Costa Rica's most unpopular gringo".
and it looks like Costa Rica's most unpopular gringo, missing for the last month and a half, is heading back their way for Christmas.
"Given his well-known role in Canada's adScam scandal and the $15 million he was paid, you'd think this guy would want to maintain a low profile, but it was his almost nightly wild parties here that exposed his whereabouts," a town resident told canadafreepress.com.
In the latest sequence of events, Lafleur's companion Larry, a 30-year-old Tico (Costa Rican) returned last week to Escazu alone.
"It made us so happy when word leaked out that Larry had only come back to pay the bills, and check on their other properties in the country," said the Escazu resident. "When it was discovered that Lafleur's brand new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado was missing, we naturally assumed that Larry had taken the vehicle to a more secure location."
But Larry's return soon turned from relief to anger and frustration when his parties without Lafleur were just as wild and when residents heard both revelers would be back in time for Christmas.
In round one of townsfolk-versus-Lafleur, staff at the apartment complex which became his post-adScam hidey-hole, complained about cartons of empty liquor bottles.
Neighbours described Lafleur and Company as "rude and crude" and said the ad exec was "drowning his sorrows" much too loudly.
Round two has them suspecting that Lafleur is not back in Costa Rica only temporarily due to possible new developments in the adScam scandal. They are looking for reassurance that the Canadian government is "really serious" about prosecuting Lafleur.
a new development to Costa Ricans is the recent knowledge that Lafleur's son, Eric has also been implicated in adScam.
Lafleur Communication managed more than $30 million in sponsorship contracts in the mid to late 1990s, and Eric earned more than $1.1 million in salary while his firm acted as his father's sole supplier of federally branded promotional items. Like his father, Eric reaped huge windfalls after the sponsorship's creation in 1997.
In testimony before the Gomery Inquiry, Eric, an ex-Liberal campaign worker, placed responsibility for apparent billing irregularities at the feet of his father and sister, Julie.
In fact, Eric spent his first day at the sponsorship inquiry attempting to distance himself from his father and the patriarch's claims that taxpayers always received value from the family's lucrative sponsorship work.
Costa Ricans who want a Christmas without Lafleur and Larry are worried that the "handclap of civil suits" will only send the party boys straight back to Escazu.
"a mere slap of the hands is no big deal particularly if the money is already out of the country."
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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