More details emerged Thursday at the Charbonneau Commission shedding light on a secret and entrenched system of corruption and collusion in Laval, which apparently included planting car bombs on those who refuse to step in line.

Gilles Théberge, an executive for the Sintra construction firm, shared a spellbinding narrative that included a tale of how his car was blown up on June 15, 2000.

He said that while the companies involved in the collusion, namely Sintra, DJL, Simard Beaudry and Beaver, often worked out disagreements themselves, sometimes the situation got extremely dangerous.

Théberge got a taste of how dangerous it could be when he was jolted out of bed at 2:45 a.m. only to learn that his car had been blown up. The incident occurred two weeks after a neighbourhing home was damaged under similarly suspicious circumstances.

Théberge said that he believes that a rival company, likely led by Antonio Borsellino, was pressuring him to acquire a contract, and it convinced Théberge to stop working for Sintra.

Before he resigned, Sintra picked up the repair bill for his car, including for damages on his neighbours' properties.

However Théberge said that the price-fixing affected all public works projects in and around Montreal, whether for municipalities or the provincial government, and in his opinion it is still taking place today.

He also said it continues because it is extremely profitable, guaranteeing a 30 percent profit margin -- whereas companies in honest competition only earn four to eight percent profit.

Théberge said the public is always on the hook for asphalt, paying a minimum of 20 percent more than the private sector.

 

Vaillancourt collected bags of cash

Meanwhile retired engineer Marc Gendron confirmed that the former mayor of Laval was the head of a well-organized kickback system that collected millions, if not tens of millions of dollars and funneled it into private hands.

Gendron said that between 1996 and 2003 it was his job to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars each year -- an amount equal to 1 or 2 percent of each public works contract in Laval.

That money went straight to Vaillancourt and his political party PRO des Lavallois, the group that ran Laval's city hall -- free from any opposition -- for more than a decade this century.

And in many cases Gendron would meet the then-mayor in a furniture store owned by Vaillancourt's brother for a cash transfer.

"When I had more than $300 or $400,000 in the safe, depending on the thickness, the denominations, that would mean nothing more would fit," said Gendron.

"I'd call him, I'd meet him, I would say 'where should I bring this?' In general it was to Guy Vaillancourt, his brother."