Trpanier says he accepted cash for volunteer campaign work

The man who has come to be known at the provinces corruption commission as "Mr.Three Per Cent" says that he was often paid in cash for volunteer work with municipal political parties.

Bernard Trpanier told the Charbonneau commission this afternoon that he accepted cash for his work in several municipalities includes Boisbriand, Saint-Jrme and Ville St-Laurent in the 90s.

However, he said he never accepted any payment for his work on the mayoral campaigns of his friend, Frank Zampino, in St-Leonard.

"A friend is a friend," he told the commission.

"I never asked for anything from Mr. Zampino in St-Lonard."

Trpanier is detailing for the commission his extensive history as a political organizer. He said he worked on campaigns in Laval, where he also never accepted payment, as well as other municipalities,such asRosemere, where he was paid by cheque.

He said he was the only "pseudo-volunteer," or one who was actually paid, that he knew of in the municipal elections he worked on.

He told the commission he saw so-called turn-key elections where engineering firms, contractors and lawyers would come together to support a political party to lock down municipal contracts before 2004.

Trpanier said he was not involved in political fundraising before the spring of 2004, when he was hired as the director of fundraising for Union Montreal. Before that time, he worked only as an organizer, he said.

On Dessau's payroll

Trpanier was asked about nearly $1 million he was paid by the engineering firm Dessau between 2002 and 2009.

One of the firm's vice-presidents, Rosaire Sauriol, told the commission last week that his firmtook part in a false-billing scheme to free up cash to pay Union Montral in exchange for its role in the contract-rigging operation.

Sauriolhas since resigned his post from Dessau, an international firm that started as a family business.

Trpanier said he did work for Dessau through his consultingfirm, BerMax, concerning the preparation of bids for projects involving Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

He was pressed on exactly what he did for Dessau to merit that kind of a paycheque, especially during the time that overlapped his tenure as a salaried employee with Union Montral.

Trpanier said that he acted as an intermediary between Dessau and a business acquaintance who was a specialist in putting together submissions to win these kind of contracts. He said he paid thatassociate in cash, around $5,000 every two months.

Trudeauairport falls under federal jurisdiction and, therefore, those contracts fall outside of the commission's mandate a point which was raised by Trpanier's lawyer just before the hearing wrapped for the day.

Highly-anticipated witness

Trpanier has been described by several previous witnesses as "Mr. Three Per Cent" for the cut of public contracts he allegedly collected for the former mayor's Union Montrealparty, a system that allegedly started while he was the party's head of fundraising.

With a few slight variations, witness after witness described a scheme that involved the firms agreeing to share in a fixed bidding process that allowed them all to have a share of the lucrative public works contracts.

The cost of admission, many said, was a three per cent per contract pay back to Union Montral, paid via Trpanier.

Some witnesses described making those payments, as well as a $200,000 lump sum intended to support the partys 2005 election campaign, at Union Montrals offices. Others said they metTrpanier at restaurants or street corners and handed over envelopes or briefcases full of cash.

They said thesystem worked with the collaboration of the former director of public works, Robert Marcil, who allegedly had influence within the contract selection committees.

Most of the witnessessaid Trpanieracted as anintermediary, receiving instructions from former executive committee head Frank Zampino.

Both Zampino and Trpanierwere arrested and charged with fraud and other offences relating to the Faubourg-Contrecoeur housing development in Montreal in May 2012.

Their cases arecurrently making their way through the court system.

Trpanier worked for the party from 2004 but left abruptly in 2006. Several of the engineering executives said the system went on even after Trpaniers departure from the party, and payments were still made through him.

A witness from the party, who testified earlier this week, however, suggested that those payments never made their way to the party coffers.

Marc Deschamps, the official agent for Union Montreal, said he believes Trpanier was pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars that was coming in from the engineering firms.

Deschamps told the commission that Trpanier was fired from his duties with the party in February 2006 at the urging of former mayor Grald Tremblay. However, he said, that move was"just for show."