MONTREAL—Bernard Trepanier, the man widely acknowledged as the key fundraiser for Union Montreal, says he raised lots of money but was not a bagman for the party.
"That's a big word," said Trepanier—he didn’t object to middleman as a description.
During months of testimony at the public inquiry Trepanier has been mentioned at least a thousand times. He is also known as Mr. 3% for his alleged habit of demanding a three per cent illegal kickback on all municipal construction contracts, money that witnesses have said was destined for Union Montreal.
On Wednesday, Trepanier’s contradictions piled up, but the former fundraiser did admit to asking for $200,000 from engineering firms for the mayor’s reelection campaign.
Despite the endless contradictions, a pattern is starting to emerge around Trepanier. He was the go-to man for the fundraisers for the mayor and the engineering firms he claims he didn't know.
Trepanier is also accused of fraud in the Contrecoeur Faubourg land swap deal, and at the inquiry on Wednesday admitted he has spoken to some of his co-accused, including Tony Accurso.
The fundraiser said he was not very experienced when first hired by Union Montreal, but admits he kept on raising money for Mayor Gerald Tremblay's party until 2008–two years after he was fired.
Trepanier has also admitted that he worked for Dessau engineering while raising money for Union Montreal, and was paid almost $1,000,000 over a decade.
On Wednesday he admitted accepting $40,000 from SNC Lavalin, and confirmed that engineering companies did make donations—in cash—to the party.
"When we say something like that, it is because there are certain people who delivered cash because they were not able to write a cheque," said Trepanier.
He also said that one engineer and prior witness was lying about the reasons behind the payments.
Lalonde, CEO of structural engineering firm Genius Conseil told the inquiry in January that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars bribing politicians to win contracts.
What's become clear is that Trepanier didn't just raise money for the party, he also lobbied on behalf of the generous donors who wanted city contracts.
Trepanier said bluntly that Lalonde was lying, at which point the inquiry's lawyers pulled out phone records showing that Trepanier and Lalonde spoke frequently—with roughly 1,000 conversations between the pair recorded.
Trepanier then said that he never asked for kickbacks, but did target companies that won contracts and ask them to buy tables at fundraisers. He also said that he was able to sell $600,000 worth of tickets for a fundraiser for the Aquatic Games in a few days.
Engineering firms all testified that Trepanier was responsible for deciding whose turn it was to win a city contract. Trepanier denies that part, but the commission plans to challenge him on that again Thursday.
