Bureaucrat who took $600,000 in kickbacks says he was victim

A Montreal city engineer who lined his pockets while inflating cost estimates so construction companies could cash in says he is a victim of the system he helped build.

In his fourth day of testimony at Quebec’s corruption inquiry, Gilles Suprenant said he would have been happier of the system had never taken root – even if he pocketed at least $600,000, along with a wide assortment of gifts.

“I am not a villain. I am a bureaucrat who was corrupted,” Mr. Surprenant testified. “In my case, the corrupt bureaucrat doesn’t exist. I am a bureaucrat who was corrupted.”

Mr. Surprenant said he was “a little shaken” when he heard from a colleague that millions of dollars were being funnelled the executive committee of Mayor Gérald Tremblay. He said it wasn’t his job as a to report the situation he found so distasteful to police.

“Everyone knew. I talked about it with my superiors. I didn’t think it was my role as a simple bureaucrat to go to police,” Mr. Surprenant said.

So far Quebec’s construction inquiry has heard that for nearly a decade construction companies fixed hundreds of millions of dollars in bids on construction projects around the province, often aided by corrupt officials in government and political parties.

This week’s testimony has concentrated on one small piece – Montreal’s sewer and water projects which were almost entirely rigged from 2000 to at least 2008. Mr. Surprenant and former construction boss Lino Zambito have testified both specialized in sewer lines. Mr. Surprenant suggested the system was similar in the paving and sidewalk department, which had a much bigger budget.

Mr. Surprenant testified that the system was so thoroughly rigged by 2006, that a computer system was automatically spitting out inflated contracts, diminishing the need for construction bosses to pay him. His bribes steadily dried up into 2007 and 2008, he said.

Commission counsel Denis Gallant and commission head France Charbonneau appeared to lose patience with the retired engineer’s attempts to recast himself as a man caught in a trap of filthy money set by construction companies.

“It’s fine to play the poor little wretch stuck with the money, but you still got paid,” Mr. Gallant said.

Mr. Surprenant replied that he didn’t want it. “I didn’t know what to do with it, and I gave back a large part of it,” he said.

Mr. Surprenant said of the $600,000 he received, he gambled away about $250,000, loaned $150,000 to one of the construction bosses, and turned in $122,800 to commission investigators.

Original Article
Source: the globe and mail
Author: LES PERREAUX