Ricova went to Superior Court to try to overturn the City of Montreal’s decision to disqualify her from contracts for five years. The recycling company accuses the City of having acted in bad faith and of having exceeded its powers. At the same time, it rejects the allegations of fraud advanced by the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Ricova affirms that it has never contravened the contractual provisions that bound it to the City of Montreal, in particular regarding the sale of recyclable materials to a sister company, Ricova International.
Last March, the BIG published a report in which it criticized Services Ricova for having deprived the City of significant revenue by not declaring part of the price obtained for the sale of materials to Ricova International. The latter, found the OIG, kept for itself an amount of $ 20 per ton.
Recall that in 2020, Ricova inherited the management contracts for recycling activities at the Lachine and Saint-Michel sorting centers when the TIRU company found itself in financial difficulty.
Last March, the BIG had recommended registering Ricova and its leader Dominic Colubriale in the Registry of Ineligible Companies of the City of Montreal for a period of five years and to cancel the contracts with the company as soon as possible. Last week, Montreal finally blacklisted the company.
“The City of Montreal knew very well that the material was sold at the Quebec market price to Ricova International. Moreover, Ricova International was the buyer for more than 90% of the recycled materials from the Lachine and Saint-Michel sorting centers even before they were taken over by Services Ricova,” pointed out Stephanie Dunglas, Director of Communications for Ricova in a statement Thursday.
She also points out that the City has never contested the assignment of the contracts to Ricova “because it had no valid reason to do so. »
The company maintains that it has tried several times to meet with city representatives regarding the Lachine sorting center, but without success.
“The City of Montreal is acting illegally, showing bad faith and exceeding its powers,” said the company.