Paolo Catania, one of the biggest players in Quebec's construction industry, faces accusations of uttering deaths threats, extortion and harassment of another business man.
Catania, president of Construction Frank Catania & Associates Inc., was arrested on Thursday. He was arraigned on Friday, but he did not appear in court.
Catania is a partner with the city in the controversial Faubourg Contrecoeur housing project, which is currently being investigated by the city's auditor general.
Since 2000, Catania's company has been awarded several multi-million dollar contracts with the city of Montreal.
The 43-year-old is accused of trying to extort money from fellow businessman Elio Pagliarulo.
The two men partnered up to loan money to people who had bad credit and couldn't obtain loans from banks, according to a report in La Presse.
The report says a number of the people to whom Pagliarulo loaned money failed to pay off their debts, and he was left owing Catania $1.4 million.
Pagliarulo alleges that Catania began uttering death threats back in December.
Montreal police Const. Yannick Ouimet confirmed to CTV News that a victim came forward and said that he had been repeatedly threatened, for months, by a man with whom he had business dealings.
Ouimet also said the investigation is ongoing, and that the suspect could face more charges.
