MONTREAL – A star witness at Quebec’s corruption inquiry is having problems with the taxman in his new line of work – the pizza business.
Lino Zambito told the probe during his sensational testimony this fall he had been forced to leave the construction industry when legal problems put a financial strain on his company.
Now Zambito may be getting squeezed out of his new career as a restaurateur.
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Revenue Quebec announced today it had seized $38,465 from his Montreal-area pizzeria because of unpaid taxes.
It said it has also moved to revoke Zambito’s right to collect sales taxes – which would limit his ability to operate a business.
He became a household name in Quebec this fall as the witness who produced a memorable breakthrough in the province’s corruption inquiry.
Zambito was the first witness to share inside information about a secret cartel that rigged bids on public projects and shared its extra profits with political parties, corrupt civil servants and the Mafia.
His testimony has since been echoed by other witnesses.
Zambito also testified that, after his name surfaced in corruptions scandals, he began having trouble getting credit from financial institutions. He was charged with fraud in 2011.
Those problems prompted the longtime sewer specialist to leave construction and open a pizzeria in Blainville, north of Montreal.
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