The City of Longueuil will have no other choice but to reimburse the legal fees of its former director general, Guido Benedetti, unfairly accused of having participated in the collusion that existed in this municipality in the early 2000s.
The Supreme Court in fact rejected, on Thursday, the City of Longueuil’s appeal request in this case. As always, the highest court does not give the reasons for its refusal to hear the appeal.
The complaint against Mr. Benedetti, who was Director General of Longueuil from 2005 to 2012, was filed by the Order of Engineers of Quebec (OIQ) in 2019. It was part of an investigation into collusion in the municipality of La South Shore of Montreal, a case in which another former senior official from Longueuil, Christian Fallu, admitted his guilt before the disciplinary board of the Order in 2018.
However, Mr. Benedetti, who is now director general of the municipality of Rosemère, was completely cleared by his professional order in May 2020.
On the strength of the Order’s decision, Guido Benedetti had obtained from the Court of Appeal that it oblige the city of Longueuil to reimburse him for his legal fees. By refusing to hear Longueuil’s appeal, the Supreme Court thus confirms the decision of the Court of Appeal and Longueuil will have to reimburse it an amount the amount of which has not yet been disclosed.
Joined by The Canadian Press, counsel for Mr. Benedetti, Me Pierre Eloi Talbot was content to say that his client “is very satisfied with the judgment, which confirms the full acquittal he obtained before the disciplinary board of his professional order”.
The investigation by the Order of Engineers had shown that five engineering firms had virtual control over the contracts of the city of Longueuil between 2002 and 2009.