A real-estate manager testified to the cash-for-favours scheme at the centre of the charges against former Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum Monday.
Applebaum faces 14 corruption-related charges dating to his time as mayor of CDN-NDG.
Robert Stein testified Monday that he, along with his business partners, owned a building on Troie Ave. in Côte-des-Neiges, and that he had to go through the process of obtaining all the permits to build a project there.
Stein claims that in 2007, he was pressured to pay bribes to Applebaum in exchange for political favours to help the project move forward.
In his mid-20s at the time, Stein said he was asked by Applebaum to meet at his borough office and was told ‘elections are expensive, they're not cheap.’
Stein said that Applebaum wanted he and his colleagues to buy tickets to a cocktail fundraiser, adding that Applebaum then told him he’d prefer a cash payment.
He and his partners came up with $1,000 which was delivered to Applebaum's former chief of staff, Hugo Tremblay.
A little while later Tremblay called Stein and said he would need to make another "political contribution" of $35,000.
He also paid Jean-Yves Bisson, the head of permits for the borough, $15,000 for a demolition permit.
Stein said that Saulie Zajdel, who voted in favour of the project, approached him and asked "any room for me?" -- meaning Zajdel wanted a payoff. Stein ended up giving Zajdel $10,000 in cash.
Bisson and Zajdel have since pleaded guilty to the charges they faced.
Stein, who claimed to be nervous but offered chatty, colourful testimony, said that he knew this was how it worked because he watched a lot of the HBO TV show The Sopranos.
Under cross-examination, Stein said he felt he was being extorted by the borough mayor.
His testimony corroborates some of what Tremblay stated last week on the stand.
He testified that he was schooled by Applebaum in how to coerce people and how to extract this kind of money from developers.
The former mayor has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
