Recruited in 2022 while he was riddled with debt, a senior official of the City of Montreal is the target of an investigation into questionable expenses of public funds, our Bureau of Investigation learned.
The president of the Montreal Electrical Services Commission (CSEM), Sidiky Zerbo, was suspended with pay since October 6, but has just resigned.
An investigation was launched on April 24 concerning “allegations [qu’il] contravened the administrative frameworks of the City of Montreal.”
According to what our Bureau of Investigation has learned, the president’s official expenses are notably scrutinized by the Comptroller General.
For several days we have been trying to contact Mr. Zerbo on this subject, in vain.
La Presse had already revealed this fall that he had placed himself in a situation of conflict of interest, by trying to favor his former employer, Charbone Hydrogène Corporation. We therefore understand that this situation was only the tip of the iceberg.
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Extra fuel
Both the City and the EMSB refuse to provide us with Mr. Zerbo’s expense allocations, due to the ongoing investigation.
We were still able to get our hands on the CSEM credit card statements thanks to the access to information law with the City of Montreal.
They report, in particular, unusual gasoline purchases totaling more than $1,500, between November 2022 and April 2023 on a single credit card activated a few weeks after the President of the Commission took office.
The majority of transactions were made at gas stations located near Sid Zerbo’s residence in Laval.
The latter benefited from a car allowance, which is incompatible with gasoline reimbursements under City rules.
The purchases stopped on April 23 and the next day, Mr. Zerbo was informed that the Comptroller General was beginning an investigation.
The City of Montreal refused to comment on the transactions made on this credit card, citing the ongoing investigation.
He is drowning in debt
Sidiky Zerbo has been experiencing serious financial problems for several years which culminated in October 2023, when the National Bank informed the City that it was going to seize nearly a third of his salary.
To lead the CSEM, the organization responsible for managing underground conduits for the wired networks of Hydro-Québec or telephone and internet providers, for example, he received an annual salary of $152,476.
Mr. Zerbo had to repay a credit debt of more than $130,000 contracted with the financial institution.
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Unable to pay
Documents filed in court by the National Bank indicate that since the fall of 2021, Sid Zerbo barely paid a few dozen dollars per month on his credit card, the balance of which was more than $22,000.
Two lines of credit of more than $50,000 from which he benefited were also saturated. His total debt to the bank was $134,000 in October.
The bank tried to get reimbursed for several months in 2022, before turning to the courts. On May 9, 2023, a Superior Court judgment ordered him to pay his debts.
But the bailiffs were unable to find him, so much so that he had to serve the notice of execution directly at the CSEM offices on October 5. The next day he was suspended.
Mr. Zerbo attempted to oppose the judgment and seizure, but ultimately withdrew in December.
Despite its disastrous financial situation, Quebec‘appointed senior official
When Sidiky Zerbo was appointed head of an organization with a budget of more than $90 million by the Council of Ministers, in July 2022, he was already the subject of several public notices and prosecutions in connection with his financial troubles.
In addition to his problems with the National Bank, Mr. Zerbo owed 3.9 million to a private lender, as revealed The Press last October.
He had taken out this loan in order to pay another creditor to whom he was already in default. Court proceedings were initiated by the lender in January 2022, six months before his appointment.
In April 2023, the Court ordered the seizure of six of its properties, including one which houses an SQDC, on Masson Street in Montreal. He even lost his personal residence valued at nearly $630,000.
The president of the CSEM is appointed by the secretariat for senior employment, which reports to the government of Quebec, even if he is paid by the City of Montreal.
The Ministry of Executive Council refuses to say what it knew about Mr. Zerbo’s precarious situation at the time of appointing him, but assures that it has carried out the usual checks.
According to our information, Quebec has already verified the financial situation of former candidates for the position of president of the CSEM.
The associate professor at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP), Jacques Bourgault, assures that the senior employment secretariat can “certainly” carry out financial checks before making an appointment.
“These are positions of trust,” he recalls. We must surely have questioned him about his financial decline. We couldn’t just brush it under the rug and hold our noses.”
According to the professor, Mr. Zerbo’s financial problems may not have been deemed relevant, since what is looked at is the “connectedness” between the position and the background.
“Someone who has financial problems and who has mismanaged, we will not put him in the Financial Markets Authority,” he illustrates.