Newly-obtained documents suggest that a small group of contractors and engineers benefited from contract-bidding irregularities at Montreal city hall a decade ago.
Last spring police raided the homes of former Montreal Executive Committee Chairman Frank Zampino as well as those of former Dessau engineering firm boss Rosaire Sauriol, contractor Tony Accurso and others.
Police were looking for evidence of collusion between city hall and contractors who ended up bagging the massive $355 million water meter contract.
Three consortia were bidding for the job and according to rules governing public tenders, a bidder cannot have any exchanges with the city administration once a bid has been made.
However the documents suggest that Frank Zampino, who served as Gerald Tremblay’s right-hand man on the Montreal Executive Committee, violated the rule on many occasions.
According to an agenda seized by police, Zampino spent time on Tony Accurso’s yacht and took trips to the Bahamas, Algeria and Las Vegas with people in the city involved in awarding the contracts. Zampino also allegedly accepted paid meals at restaurants as well and was similarly indulged with parties and visits to the Bell Centre.
Accurso and Dessau ended up winning the contract.
No charges have been laid in connection with the apparent transgressions.
Zampino and former city fundraiser Bernard Trepanier are awaiting trial in a separate case involving an east end plot of land called Faubourg Contrecoeur.
