Former justice minister Marc Bellemare said financiers for the Quebec Liberal party influenced the selection of judges while he was in office, all with the blessing of Premier Jean Charest.

Marc Bellemare made the comment as a public inquiry began Tuesday into allegations that Liberal fundraisers influenced the appointment of judges several years ago.

Bellemare triggered the political storm last spring, when he said he was pressured by Liberal bagmen during his spell as justice minister in 2003 and 2004 to name certain judges to the bench.

In his long-anticipated testimony, Bellemare said Charest told him to do whatever the party's financial backers wanted him to.

Bellemare testified at the commission in Quebec City that Liberal fundraiser Franco Fava put pressure on him in July 2003 to name the son of a Liberal organizer to the bench.

Bellemare alleged that Fava and accountant Charles Rondeau pushed for the appointments of Marc Bisson and Michel Simard to the Quebec court.

And Bellemare alleged that Charest was fine with the appointments.

"He (Charest) told me: 'If Franco told you to name Simard and Bisson, name them,"' Bellemare quoted Charest as saying at a meeting the ex-justice minister said took place on Sept. 2, 2003.

Bellemare said he told Charest about the allegations and that the premier ignored his concerns.

"Franco is a personal friend, an influential fundraiser and we need those people," Bellemare quoted Charest as saying.

At that point it was clear that Bisson and Simard would be named judges because the decision was Charest's, Bellemare said.

The premier took the unusual step of holding an impromptu scrum at the end of the day on Tuesday and denied having any special relationship with Fava.

"That is false," said Charest, who has launched a $700,000 defamation suit against his ex-justice minister.

"I am not a close friend of Mr. Fava. I know Mr. Fava. He has never been in my office and he has no special access (to me). I run into him two or three times a year at party events."

The premier, who will testify later at the commission, also rejected Bellemare's allegations that the two men spoke about undue influence in the appointment of judges.

"I did not say anything to Mr. Bellemare about accepting the candidacy of a person.

"It's important that Quebecers hear directly from me what I already had the opportunity of saying in regards to his allegation -- that someone or people had influenced him or me or the government in the nomination of judges."

Marc Bisson, named to Quebec court in November 2003, is the son of Guy Bisson, a Liberal organizer in the Outaouais region in western Quebec.

Bellemare also said two other judges were named after intense lobbying: Simard and Line Gosselin-Despres, who was named to the youth court.

Charest is among the roughly 40 witnesses scheduled to testify over the next several weeks.

Bellemare told the commission that Fava, a Quebec entrepreneur, and Rondeau, both exercised "huge influence" on him in the naming of judges.

Bellemare said Fava's standing in the party was so influential that he "knew before I did that I would be named minister."

The commission is headed by former Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache.

His report is due in mid-October.