It was another tough day on the stand at the Charbonneau inquiry as former engineering firm vice-president Gilles Cloutier was put on the defensive under cross-examination again.
So far, Cloutier has admitted to fixing municipal elections, paying bribes and lying -- now he's accused of doing business with a member of the Hells Angels.
Faced with another embarrassing episode from his past, 72-year-old Cloutier was asked about his one-time involvement in a real-estate deal with Denis Houle, a member of the Hells Angels.
Cloutier testified that he didn’t know the biker, explaining that the deal was arranged by his real-estate agent when Cloutier wanted to move to a smaller house and Houle wanted a bigger one
“My agent arrived with this man without telling me that he was a biker, a Nomad. I had no idea,” he said.
The deal was to swap houses, with Cloutier receiving a $105,000 balance for the difference in value.
Parti Quebecois lawyer Estelle Tremblayattempted to show that Cloutier did business with organized crime.
The witness said he discovered whom he was dealing with when he met the biker at his Laurentians estate, where the biker's wife once survived an attempted murder.
Cloutier said he tried to pull out of the deal.
“I told him I didn't want to sell anymore, but he pulled out a gun and said if I didn't sell I'd get in trouble with them,” he said.
Tremblay then demonstrated that the self-confessed elections fixer was also a crook who hid financials from his creditors during his personal bankruptcy by cashing $90,000 worth of RRSPs before going bankrupt.
“I said I wanted the cash because I knew I was going bankrupt,” he said.
Cloutier is still not off the hook, as former PQ minister Guy Chevrette has officially demanded the right to take the stand to contradict the witness over alleged bribes he received.
The commission now hopes to begin hearing a witness about what happened in Laval as early as Wednesday.
A publication ban will not be in place for the time being, which means much of the evidence police compiled against former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt is about to become public knowledge.
