MONTREAL – A star Quebec corruption inquiry witness whose testimony led in part to the the resignation of Montreal’s mayor is now struggling to back up some of his claims.
The bombshell-filled inquiry kicked off again Monday, following a lengthy holiday break, and it began by taking a closer look at Martin Dumont’s testimony from the fall session.
Dumont was called back to the stand Monday. He was pressed over the truthfulness of an anecdote he shared while testifying in October.
A grim-looking Dumont insisted that someone did, in fact, express discomfort with him about having to count stacks of cash at the offices of Montreal’s ruling party.
But Dumont said Monday that he couldn’t remember who it was.
“Could I be mixing up two stories? It’s very possible,” said Dumont, a former local political operative who at one point worked in Ottawa in the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The anecdote about cash-counting is not the one that caused the downfall of the Montreal mayor. But inquiry counsel are now taking a second look at Dumont’s testimony. They accused him Monday of lying and said such a conversation never took place.
He was called back to the stand despite an attempt by lawyer to get a stay. She had tried arguing that he should not be forced to testify because his doctor had declared him unfit to work for at least a month. His medical condition was subject to a publication ban.
Another witness Monday contradicted some of Dumont’s testimony from the fall.
Alexandra Pion told the inquiry that she worked as a secretary at Union Montreal headquarters and was only asked on one occasion by Bernard Trepanier, a Union Montreal fundraiser, to help him count $50 and $20 bills in a briefcase.
Pion said she immediately rebuffed Trepanier.
“It wasn’t in my job description to count money,” Pion told the inquiry. “I simply left the room.”
In testimony last fall, Dumont said he saw considerable evidence of illegal activity while working for the mayor’s party, Union Montreal.
He said he intervened because he was disgusted that party officials would make a summer employee, Pion, count $850,000 in cash.
Dumont said he urged a party fundraising official – Trepanier, who has been nicknamed “Mr. Three Per Cent” in Quebec media – to stop involving the student in that kind of activity.
Pion said she did not know if others in the office were witness to such an exchange. But she said she never once discussed the issue with Dumont and wasn’t sure how much money there was.
“It was a suitcase filled with money,” Pion told the inquiry. “I saw it and I left.”
Pion confirmed that there were two safes in the Union Montreal offices but couldn’t say if there were money-counting machines in the office.
Inquiry resumed after break
The inquiry resumed Monday after a seven-week hiatus with a winter session that will continue its look at the City of Montreal and delve into political party financing.
The Charbonneau Commission broke off its hearings at the end of November following a wild session that saw the longtime mayors of Montreal and Laval resign in a cloud of controversy.
The probe has already heard testimony about how the price of public projects was inflated with the proceeds split between construction firms, political parties, city workers and the Mafia.
Lead counsel Sonia LeBel said Monday that the financing of political parties – municipal and provincial – will also be on the menu.
“It’s a process that requires patience,” LeBel said. “The portrait of the situation will become clear, element by element and witness by witness.”
The inquiry has added four lawyers to its staff over the seven-week break. It has also met recently with numerous witnesses.
Dumont, who already testified back in October, was an aide to ex-Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay before he went to Ottawa to work for Harper.
While testifying in the fall, he alleged Tremblay was aware of illegal financing within his own party. In one of his many incendiary allegations, he said the mayor heard during a meeting about how the party kept a second set of books and then meekly left the room.
Tremblay had always maintained his ignorance of illegal financing. While resigning, he denied Dumont’s allegations and called them “completely false.”
Justice France Charbonneau said anyone caught lying on the stand will face charges. While witnesses cannot be charged criminally for behaviour they describe before the commission, they can still be charged for perjury.
Charbonneau said the inquiry will continue with two commissioners hearing the testimony.
The third commissioner, Roderick A. Macdonald, has been unable to attend the public hearings as he recovers from cancer.
Macdonald will continue to work behind the scenes with the research team.
The Charbonneau Commission is supposed to table its final report by Oct. 19, 2013. However, there is increasing speculation that it might be hard-pressed to complete its work on time.
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