Laval's former general manager, charged with being part of a kickback gang, and named on arrest warrants for Montreal's now-resigned mayor Michael Applebaum, has told the Charbonneau Commission how a corrupt system flourished.
Claude Asselin testified on Tuesday and Wednesday that he was acting under the orders of former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, whom he described as "a talented man, a motor mouth, a man with incredible skills, a salesman, a manipulator."
Asselin was the GM for the city of Laval for 17 years, and said that during that time Vaillancourt ran the city, bypassing the elected council at will to do as he pleased.
When asked why he didn’t do anything, he said claimed his hands were tied.
“The only person I could have brought it up with was my superior, the mayor. There was only one,” he said.
Asselin played down his role, saying he took messages from the mayor, and then passed then on to Claude Deguise, the man who for years was in charge of handling contracts, bids and tenders for the city of Laval.
“Maybe there was collusion somewhere, but it wasn't any of my business. I wasn't in on it,” he said.
The former GM said at one point that Vaillancourt had a list of companies that gave kickbacks to the mayor and his political party, but when pressed could not identify a single firm that stood out.
"To my knowledge, it was all companies that did business in Laval at one time or another," said Asselin.
On May 9, Quebec's anti-corruption squad arrested Asselin, Vaillancourt, and 35 other men. They are charged with gangsterism, fraud, and money laundering, among other crimes.
Previous witnesses, such as former Laval engineer Roger Desbois, have said that Asselin was very well aware of the illegal nature of the kickback scheme and recruited other municipal employees into the fold.
Asselin left his job as Laval's GM in 2006 and joined the engineering firm Dessau as a vice-president.
The Charbonneau Commission wrapped up Wednesday for the summer. It resumes Sept. 3.
