Frank Zampino trial: ex-mayor Gérald Tremblay defends his management

The former mayor of Montreal Gérald Tremblay testified on Tuesday at the trial of his ex-right Bras Frank Zampino and four co-accused, that is to say Robert Marcil, former director of public works in the city of Montreal, and three leaders of genius firms, Kazimierz Olechnowicz, Bernard Poulin and Normand Brousseau.

The five men are accused of corruption in municipal affairs, fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust.

The hearings have been underway since February 3.

During his testimony, Gérald Tremblay said that before going to the town hall, he was suggested to meet Frank Zampino, one of the only mayors Ready to work for mergers [municipales].

He said that he had not hesitated to ally himself with Mr. Zampino with a view to entrusting him, once elected, the role of president of the Executive Committee. I had potentially a traveling companion to accompany me in the recovery of the city of Montrealexplained Mr. Tremblay.

He therefore announced on December 14, 2000 that he was going to introduce himself to the town hall of Montreal during the November 2001 elections, in knowing very well that I was a challenge to straighten a bankrupt city. I knew it was the challenge of a life, the challenge of my lifesaid the former mayor of Montreal.

He also known Normand Brousseau (one of the accused in the present trial) in the 1990s, while the latter worked for the SNC-Lavalin Consulting Genius firm and he was deputy of Outremont.

Accused of having created a “system” of contract sharing

Frank Zampino, former mayor of Saint-Léonard and ex-president of the Executive Committee of the City of Montreal, is accused of having set up a system Having enabled 13-advisory engineers to share 34 public contracts with a total value of $ 160 million, between 2004 and 2009.

According to the prosecution, the stratagem aimed to illegally finance the party of the mayor Tremblay, Union Montréal. Firms which won municipal contracts had to return to a 3 % fee in the Union Montreal funds, in addition to paying a lump sum between $ 50,000 and $ 200,000 to have the right to participate in the systemwe describe.

Gérald Tremblay assured Tuesday afternoon never had any information on illegal contributions to the political partyadding to the passage Never [avoir] voluntary blindnesswhat he had already defended himself in his testimony in 2013 before the Charbonneau commission, which then investigated the granting and management of public contracts in the construction industry.

As for the former director of public works, Mr. Tremblay defended himself by saying that he had shown him the door as soon as he had learned In an email that Robert Marcil had made trips paid by Co-Conseil Firms.

The ex-mayor of Montreal recalled having lowered the contribution ceiling to the party from $ 1000 to $ 200, in addition to preventing anonymous donations. We are in politics to solve problems, do things, we are not in politics to run after moneyhe said on Tuesday at the helm.

Questioned by journalists in the corridors of the courthouse concerning allegations aimed at his ex-right law Frank Zampino, the former mayor replied simply: Wait for the conclusions of the trial.

Stopping procedures for four years

Mr. Zampino, Mr. Marcil, Mr. Olechnowicz, Mr. Poulin and Mr. Brousseau had been apprehended in September 2017 following an investigation by the Permanent Anti -Corruption Unit (UPAC). Arrested during the same operation, Bernard Trépanier died in 2018.

In 2019, judge Joëlle Roy, of the Court of Quebec, had ordered a judgment of procedures, first for Mr. Zampino, then for all the remaining co -accused, believing that the proof of electronic listening obtained by the investigators in the file, including conversations between the accused and their lawyers, represented a serious violation of their rights.

However, in October 2023, a bench of three judges from the Court of Appeal made this decision. The court concluded that the trial judge was based on erroneous considerations in law and had made manifest and decisive factual errors; The stopping of procedures should therefore not have been pronounced.

The case had been brought to the Supreme Court, which finally announced in July 2024 that it would not hear the challenge of the decision of the Court of Appeal which referred the ex-president of the Executive Committee of the City of Montreal and its coaccusés at trial.

With information from Amélie Desmarais