The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) defends the action of his prosecutors in the case of the former mayor of Terrebonne and says not to share, at this stage, the conclusions of the judge who accuses them of having lied in front of the court.
The DPCP also says it is studying the possibility of going to the Quebec Court of Appeal to challenge the judgment of the judicial process against the former mayor Jean-Marc Robitaille and his co-defendants.
Recall that on Monday, 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.
Read the article “Judicial process stopped against the former mayor of Terrebonne”
The judge says state officials failed in their duties because of their “will to win at all costs”.
“The transgressions repeated by various actors of the State violate the rules of fair play and decency which society is entitled to expect from collaborators of justice”, underlined the magistrate.
But the DPCP does not see it the same way.
“In light of a preliminary analysis of the judgment rendered yesterday afternoon in the R. c. Robitaille, Bélec, Papillon and Trudel, the factual findings made by trial judge McKenna do not appear to us to be based on the evidence presented, ”said Press Me Patricia Johnson, deputy spokesperson for the DPCP, Tuesday.
“We are continuing to analyze the decision in order to assess our means of appealing to the Quebec Court of Appeal,” she said.
Accused of corruption
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.
For now, UPAC has said it does not want to comment on the judgment that ended the judicial process in this case.