Trépannier’s visits to city hall caused discomfort
Accused allegedly had access to proposed non-public contract-tender documents
The chief fundraiser for Union Montreal, the party that ruled city hall in the mid-2000s, had a business card with an official city of Montreal logo that said he worked for the mayor’s office, former city councillor Benoit Labonté testified at the Contrecoeur trial on Tuesday.
Bernard Trépanier’s “double role” as political money collector and as representative of the mayor’s office caused great discomfort for people working for the city, Labonté added. Trépanier’s frequent visits to city hall also caused discomfort, he said.
“He didn’t hide the card,” Labonté said of Trépanier, adding later that he’s “99.99 per cent” sure that he saw the card himself at least once.
Labonté, who was first elected in 2005 with then-mayor Gérald Tremblay and his Union Montreal party, was a member of the city executive committee alongside Frank Zampino, who is one of the people on trial.
Zampino, who was chairman of the executive committee from 2002 to 2008, and Trépanier were among nine people arrested by Quebec’s anti-corruption squad, UPAC, in 2012. They face fraud and conspiracy charges relating to the 2007 sale of city-owned land known as Faubourg Contrecoeur to a construction firm for a fraction of its municipal assessment to build an 1,800-unit housing development.
The former head of the construction firm, Paolo Catania, and four of its former executives are on trial with Zampino before a judge and no jury. The firm, Construction Frank Catania et Associés, is also charged. Trépanier is being tried separately from the others, also by judge alone.
Labonté, who left politics in 2009, testified via video from the Philippines, where he said he has been living since 2013. He’s a permanent resident now, he said. Because of the time difference, his testimony began late at night local time and carried on into the early hours of the morning.
Trépanier used to visit Zampino’s office at city hall, Labonté testified.
However, Labonté said he most often saw Trépanier visiting the office next door to his, belonging to executive committee member Sammy Forcillo.
Forcillo was responsible for infrastructure.
Trépanier would walk out of Forcillo’s office each week with numerous civil service reports under his arm, Labonté said.
The reports detailed contracts and calls for tender that had not yet been given to members of the executive committee to vote on, Labonté said. Since they were not yet approved, he said, the documents weren’t public.
In fact, the reports contained important information about upcoming calls for tender and the costs and conditions of coming contracts, Labonté said. Trépanier had no business with these documents, he added.
Zampino’s lawyer, Isabel Schurman, asked Labonté about being questioned by investigators from the Charbonneau commission about a $25,000 contribution he received from construction entrepreneur Lino Zambito and his uncle when Labonté ran for leadership of the opposition party Vision Montreal after quitting Union Montreal and the executive committee in September, 2007.
The contribution was legal under financing rules, Labonté said. He also acknowledged a similar leadership campaign contribution from engineering firm executive Michel Lalonde, although he said the money was collected by campaign workers.
Labonté was also asked at length about the merger of two paramunicipal real-estate agencies, which the city transformed into a private, non-profit corporation between 2006 and 2007. The move was considered illegal by the head of the city’s legal department, Labonté said. A top city bureaucrat obtained an outside legal opinion saying it could be done.
One of the agencies, Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM), was mandated by the city to sell the Faubourg Contrecoeur land, and the mandate was completed by the merged and privatized entity, also called SHDM.
Tremblay, who was mayor from 2002 to 2012, testified on Monday that he dumped his first chief of staff, Martial Fillion, in 2003 because he had a problem with alcohol. Tremblay said he asked Fillion where he’d like to be placed instead, and said Fillion asked to be named executive director of one of the two paramunicipal agencies. He got the job, and later was chosen by a consulting firm hired by the city to head the merged and privatized SHDM.
Fillion was arrested in the Contrecoeur case, and died while awaiting trial in 2013.
Tremblay, who returned to the stand on Tuesday to complete his testimony after Labonté, was asked by Schurman whether Trépanier had a city of Montreal business card saying he worked for the mayor’s office.
“If he had one,” Tremblay said, “I don’t know under who’s authority or who gave it to him ... I didn’t authorize (it).”