The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) asks the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision of the judge who put an end to the judicial process in the context of the corruption trial of the former mayor of Terrebonne Jean-Marc Robitaille .
Recall that last month, at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse, the judge of the Court of Quebec Nancy McKenna ordered a stay of proceedings due to the misconduct of the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) and the prosecutors of the DPCP, who allegedly withheld information from the accused that could damage the credibility of an important prosecution witness.
The judge asserted that the representatives of the State failed in their duties because of their “will to win at all costs”.
But the DPCP does not see it the same way. “In the light of a preliminary analysis of the judgment rendered […] the factual findings made by trial judge McKenna do not appear to us to be based on the evidence presented ”, had told Press Me Patricia Johnson, deputy spokesperson for the DPCP, shortly after the abortion of the trial.
Former mayor Robitaille, his former chief of staff Daniel Bélec, former deputy director general Luc Papillon and entrepreneur Normand Trudel were accused of corruption in municipal affairs and breach of trust. They were arrested in 2018 as part of a UPAC investigation called Project Mediator.
According to the theory of the Crown, two engineering firms shared the public contracts in Terrebonne by virtue of a “directive” from Mayor Robitaille. He would have put in place between 2000 and 2012 a “system of corruption” based on the sharing of contracts and the granting of gifts to senior officials, argues the prosecution. It included bribes, travel, fishing expeditions and home renovations offered to beneficiaries of the system.
Two UPAC police officers whose work was singled out by the trial judge in this case were temporarily removed from their duties and assigned to other duties, while their conduct was shed light on.