Quebec Crown won't appeal acquittals in Faubourg-Contrecoeur fraud case

Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions(DPCP) will not appeal the acquittals of the former number two man at Montreal city hall and his co-accused in the Faubourg-Contrecoeur fraud case.

Frank Zampino, his fiveco-defendants MartinD'Aoust, PasqualeFedele,AndrFortinand Pascal Patrice, and the company the five men worked for, Construction Frank CataniaInc.,were acquitted of fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust charges last month.

The Crown based its case on the idea that Zampino had used his influence to help his friend, construction magnatePaoloCataniaand his associates, win city contracts an argument Quebec Court Judge YvanPoulin rejected outright in a decision that took nearly three hours to read aloud.

"It's clear that a number of assertions by the prosecution are not supported by the evidence," he said, saying at times the Crown's argumentsamounted to "speculation" and "conjecture."

In a tweet, the DPCP confirmed that after a "meticulous" analysis of the legal issues, it has decided not to appeal the decision.

Zampino chairedMontreal's executive committee and served as former Montreal mayor GeraldTremblay'sright-hand man from 2002 to 2008. He was also the former mayor of Saint-Lonard.

He was arrested in 2012 and accused of using his political influence to help Cataniain abid to secure the contract to build a housing development on city-owned landin east-end Montreal in 2007.

The two-year trialby judge alone ended in lateFebruary.

Last fall, in the midst of his testimony, Zampino was arrested again on a separate set ofcharges connected to the awarding of $160 million in municipal contracts.

His trial on those charges is pending.