Que. businessman defends role in West Block deal

Quebec businessman Gilles Varin insisted Tuesday he did nothing wrong in helping a client get a $9-million contract to renovate Parliament Hill's West Block building.

Testifying before aCommons committee, Varin acknowledged he may have passed along the resum ofconstruction boss Paul Sauv toa Conservative senator's aide, but he couldn't recall.

He also said he was paid just $118,000 over 30 months to help Sauv's brick-laying company, LM Sauv, win the West Block contract.

Sauv has said he paid Varin, who was not a registered lobbyist, $140,000 in 2008 to use his Conservative contacts to win the contract. He said Varin claimed to haveclose friends who worked for Public Works Canada.

Sauvsaid he agreed to pay Varin a monthly retainer averaging $4,000 andbegan making larger payments after LMSauv won the contract an extra $70,000, plus taxes. LMSauv went bankrupt in 2009, however, and lost the contract.

In July 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper cracked down on lobbyists, making it illegal for someone to collect bonuses for contracts awarded.

Varin told Radio-Canadahe felt he didn't need to register as a lobbyist because all he did was pass along Sauv's resum to a friend. He also denied receiving any bonuses.

The friend, Hubert Pichet, is a longtime friend of Varin who worked as an aide to Senator Pierre Claude Nolin.

In an interview aired last month, Pichet told Radio-Canada that Varin had asked him for contacts in the public works minister's office.