A defendant serving a house arrest sentence cannot leave the house whenever he wants because he has to walk his dog. A judge had to make this call to order on Monday, as part of the guilty plea of a former engineer who participated in collusion schemes between engineering firms in the early 2000s.
Posted at 12:13 p.m.
After seven years of legal proceedings in court, when his criminal trial was finally ready to begin, Dany Moreau threw down his arms on Monday. The former vice-president of the engineering firm Groupe SM pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, and admitted his participation in a system of collusion between engineering firms which shared Montreal municipal contracts in exchange for political contributions to the party of Mayor Gérald Tremblay, between 2004 and 2009.
The prosecution and the defense agreed to jointly suggest a sentence of house arrest of 21 months, rather than prison. But Quebec Court judge Geneviève Gratton balked when the parties made a long list of reasons why they considered the accused should be allowed to leave his residence in Magog during his sentence: to do his shopping twice a week. week, to exercise twice a week, to work during the day, to go to medical appointments and to… walk your dog, anytime.
The judge couldn’t believe it. “At any time of the day, he can be outside to walk his dog? He’s in home confinement! » she asked, taken aback.
“It’s difficult to predict, a dog…” said Dany Moreau’s lawyer, Mr.e Alexandre Bergevin.
“It’s not that difficult: I have one,” the magistrate retorted straight away, before turning to the accused.
-“You are in home confinement, sir!” So that everyone understands, that does not mean continuing your activities,” she explained. The judge ultimately limited Mr. Moreau’s outings to walk the dog to 45 minutes per day.
He points the finger at his co-defendants
According to the statement of facts signed by the accused, the participating firms paid approximately 3% of the value of the contracts to Gérald Tremblay’s Union Montréal party, in addition to a lump sum that they had to pay to integrate the system and finance the 2005 election. They were then informed of the contracts that would be reserved for them following rigged calls for tender.
“There was therefore no competition between the firms who knew in advance who would be awarded each contract,” said the Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Daniel Martel-Croteau.
This mechanism has already been publicly exposed to the Charbonneau commission on corruption and collusion in the construction industry.
In his acknowledgment of the facts, Dany Moreau recognized the participation of his co-accused, including the former president of the Montreal executive committee Frank Zampino. Co-defendants who were arrested like him during a raid by the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) in 2017 and whose trial is due to open in February.
