Quebec Crown won't appeal acquittals in Faubourg-Contrecoeur fraud case
In a tweet, DPCP said after a 'meticulous' analysis of the legal issues, it will not appeal
Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions (DPCP) will not appeal the acquittals of the former number two man at Montreal city hall and his co-accused in the Faubourg-Contrecoeur fraud case.
Frank Zampino, his five co-defendants Martin D'Aoust, Pasquale Fedele, André Fortin and Pascal Patrice, and the company the five men worked for, Construction Frank Catania Inc., were acquitted of fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust charges last month.
The Crown based its case on the idea that Zampino had used his influence to help his friend, construction magnate Paolo Catania and his associates, win city contracts— an argument Quebec Court Judge Yvan Poulin rejected outright in a decision that took nearly three hours to read aloud.
"It's clear that a number of assertions by the prosecution are not supported by the evidence," he said, saying at times the Crown's arguments amounted to "speculation" and "conjecture."
In a tweet, the DPCP confirmed that after a "meticulous" analysis of the legal issues, it has decided not to appeal the decision.
Zampino chaired Montreal's executive committee and served as former Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay's right-hand man from 2002 to 2008. He was also the former mayor of Saint-Léonard.
He was arrested in 2012 and accused of using his political influence to help Catania in a bid to secure the contract to build a housing development on city-owned land in east-end Montreal in 2007.
The two-year trial by judge alone ended in late February.
Last fall, in the midst of his testimony, Zampino was arrested again on a separate set of charges connected to the awarding of $160 million in municipal contracts.
His trial on those charges is pending.