The former president of Montreal’s Executive Committee will have to stand trial on fraud and corruption charges.
Ten months after a corruption trial began for Frank Zampino and several other men, a request to have the case dismissed was rejected.
Zampino, along with several others including Bernard "Mr. Three-Percent" Trepanier, is charged with fraud and corruption connected to the Faubourg Contrecoeur project.
Following months of delays the defence lawyers asked to have the case dismissed.
Judge Yvan Poulin denied their request and said the trial will continue on January 23, 2017, with some motions dealt with the week before.
In 2007 the city of Montreal sold land valued at $31 million to Construction Frank Catania for $4.4 million.
Surprised by the terms of the deal, the Societé d'habitation et de developpement de Montreal (SHDM) hired the accounting firm KPMG to examine the deal, which concluded there were irregularities in the way the then-director general Martial Fillion conducted himself in the sale of the land.
KPMG said Fillion had facilitated payments by the construction firm without the required permission of the administrative council of the Societé.
The deal convinced then-Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay to turn the SHDM into a municipal company that no longer operated at arms-length from the city government.
Zampino, Trepanier, and six others were arrested and charged in 2012, and the trial began on Feb. 8, 2016.
One of the accused, Daniel Gauthier, pleaded guilty during the first week of the trial, while a ninth accused, Fillion, has died.
The trial has been subject to repeated delays, including the defence arguing it only received copies of evidence the week before the trial began.
Defence lawyers asked for the case to be dismissed, citing a recent Supreme Court decision regarding unreasonable delays in court proceedings.
Judge Poulin said, however, he found that the defence lawyers were mostly responsible for the delays. Poulin said part of the delays could also be blamed on co- Trepanier, who missed many court dates for health reasons. And he added that the complexity of the case warranted an exception to the time limit.
Pierre Morneau, lawyer for co-defendant Andre Fortin said they can accept the ruling.
“This is a decision that respects the spirit of the law and the evidence that was in front of the courts so I have to agree with the reasoning of the judge,” he said.
Since the SCC decision regarding unreasonable delays, many court cases have been dismissed across the country.
Quebec's provincial government has set aside $175 million to hire more judges, prosecutors, and support staff to speed up trials.
