Co-accused of Frank Zampino granted stay of proceedings in fraud trial
Four men who were accused of fraud and corruption have been granted a stay of proceedings, after Court of Quebec Judge Joëlle Roy ruled their charter rights had been violated during the investigation.
The decision affects four heads of engineering firms (Bernard Poulin, Dany Moreau, Kazimierz Olechnowicz, Normand Brousseau) and Robert Marcil, former director of roads and infrastructure for the City of Montreal.
This is a blow to Quebec's anti-corruption unit, known by its French acronym UPAC, which carried out the investigation.
In her 12-page decision, Roy echoed her 2019 ruling to grant a stay of proceedings to Frank Zampino, saying that for him and the other five accused, UPAC violated their charter rights when they recorded conversations between them and their lawyers.
The five men and Zampino were all arrested by UPAC in September 2017 in connection with an alleged conspiracy that awarded municipal public contracts in exchange for money and political favours.
Roy accused UPAC of "flagrant violations of the constitutional rights of the accused" and invalidated the original judge's authorization of the wiretaps.
Roy said that she considers the UPAC investigation "flawed" and that "the evidence heard erodes the confidence in the rest of the investigation."
"This is not a quick decision, made by a police officer in the heat of the moment. These are concerted, continuous acts involving several levels of decision-making," she wrote.
She wrote that this represents one of the most "obvious cases in which a stay of proceedings is required."
The Crown prosecutor has 30 days to appeal.
