Some of accused seeking city’s files on them
Some of the accused in the municipal corruption trial related to the Contrecoeur real-estate deal want to force the city of Montreal to hand over evidence it has on them and is using to prepare damage claims to recover public money that was lost through corruption.
Paolo Catania, Martin D’Aoust, André Fortin and Pascal Patrice, all facing fraud and conspiracy charges in the Contrecoeur case and all former directors, employees or shareholders of Construction Frank Catania & Associés Inc., which is also on trial in the case, put the city on notice on Jan. 21 that they’re petitioning the courts to gain access to documents or information the city comptroller general collected on them.
The evidence was gathered to support the city’s impending civil damage claims to recover money “that it was unjustly deprived of because of fraudulent manoeuvres committed in the context of the tendering process or management of public contracts,” reads a civil service report prepared by the city’s legal department and dated Feb. 12.
The city, which is refusing to hand over the evidence it has on the businessmen, hired an outside law firm to defend it in the case. The report says the city has set aside $24,000 to defend itself in the matter.
The business men argue they have the right to obtain such documents to fully defend themselves against the criminal charges, the report says. They also contend the documents are subject to the same rules of disclosure of evidence to the defence that apply to the Crown.
The city comptroller general’s office refused the request by the businessmen by letter in August 2015, the report says. The accused have now turned to the Court of Quebec, it adds.
“This request with which business leaders having participated in fraudulent manoeuvres are seeking to obtain the city’s civil file must therefore be vigorously contested,” the report says.
The Contrecoeur case involves a parcel of land the city mandated its real-estate agency, the Société d’habitation ET de développement de Montréal, to sell for a residential development of 1,800 units.
The SHDM sold the land in 2007, following a call for bids, to Construction Frank Catania & Associés. The company paid $4.4 million, even though the land’s municipal assessment was $31 million.
Quebec’s permanent anti-corruption squad arrested nine people and the construction firm in May 2012. One person has since died, and another pleaded guilty last week.
The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Also on trial are former Montreal city councillor Frank Zampino, who was chairman of the city executive committee at the time of the Contrecoeur deal, and Bernard Trépanier, the former director of fundraising for the Union Montreal party that was in power at city hall at the time, and a fifth former official of Construction Frank Catania & Associés.
The accused, who have opted for trial by judge alone, will be back in court on Monday before Judge Yvan Poulin.