MONTREAL - Montreal’s executive committee will hand over a report on alleged collusion to the province’s anti-corruption squad.
The decision to hand over the 2004 report – which includes details on the inflated cost of construction projects, some by as much as 40 per cent – came Wednesday after recommendations from the city’s comptroller general.
Comptroller-general Alain Bond is handing over both the 2004 report and his findings to UPAC for further investigation.
The city’s former director general Guy Hebert was responsible for the 2004 report, which he said he handed over to his superiors, Robert Abdallah and Frank Zampino. Both were close advisers to former mayor Gerald Tremblay at that time.
Tremblay claimed he never saw the damning report, nor did council.
Current Mayor Michael Applebaum said Tremblay is telling the truth, however Zampino denies he ever saw the report--Abdallah for his part, denies he ever hide it.
The executive committee agreed Wednesday to follow Bond’s recommendations and hand the file over.
“In order to have more clarification on this dossier, we figured it would only be prudent and proper to send the dossier to UPAC because they have more ability to investigate and question the individuals to get a more clear understanding of what happened from this report,” said Applebaum.
Opposition leader Louise Harel agreed.
“It is the right thing to do. It's really the right thing to do because Montrealers need to know what happened,” she said.
Applebaum also said Bond’s findings may be of interest to the Charbonneau Commission, and legal action could be taken by the City of Montreal, based on what UPAC discovers from the dossier.
