Damning Evidence

As witnesses go the Quebec public inquiry into corruption in the province's construction industry, involving elected municipal and provincial officials and public sector employees has heard some solid, credible testimony from people both tangentially and intimately involved.  The damning testimony of the previous construction boss citing payoffs to various municipal figures was bad enough, naming names and shaming political parties.

But now former Union Montreal organizer Martin Dumont, who left municipal employ to work as a policy adviser in the PMO and as a senior aide for Diane Ablonczy, Jim Prentice and Josee Verner has added his experience before the Charbonneau Inquiry.  Speaking of witnessing public works contracts with hugely inflated costs, and when he made enquiries, being told by civil servants to 'stop asking so many questions'.

He described the fundraising official of Union Montreal, the reigning political party, Bernard Trepanier, as "Mr. Three Percent", who collected kickbacks from construction companies on behalf of the mayor's party.  Mr. Dumont described how he was called into the office of the fundraiser to assist him in closing a safe door, stuffed too full of high-value banknotes to close without the concerted physical effort of two men.

And the light dawned for him that this cash-stuffed safe did not represent twenty-dollar bills donated by party supporters, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars paid as graft to the municipal political party.  To support a mayor who had no interest in hearing the details.  But who refuses to step down from his mayoral station, denying he has himself done anything wrong.

And a former construction-industry insider who operated a loansharking business along with a construction magnate gave his own testimony against Frank Zampino, formerly number two man at city hall, right-hand to Mayor Tremblay.  Elio Pagliarulo testified he had personally delivered $300,000 in cash, destined for Mr. Zampino.

"I took the cash from my personal account.  I knew in advance that these particular numbers were for Mr. Zampino."  He spoke of $200,000 in renovations to Mr. Zampino's home, courtesy of Mafia ties and bid-rigging.  The $300,000 was a 'gift' in exchange for a deal on city-owned land valued at $50-million, but bought at bargain-basement price for $5-million by Paolo Catania. 

Mr. Catania, close to former Mafia boss Nicolo Rizzuto, was given the lion's share of local construction contracts under mob-controlled collusion.  Paolo Catania paid off Montreal city inspector Luc Leclerc for his approval of "extras" on city contracts, on additional work billed for but never actually done.  Mr. Catania negotiated overcharges of between $100,00 and $600,000 per project.

No secret, actually, all of these charges.  In 2009, former mayoral candidate Benoit Labonte spoke in a Radio Canada interview of Mr. Trepanier's nickname of "Mr. 3%", referring to city contracts he demanded that contractors pay to Union Montreal.