Montreal suspends engineer following corruption allegations

The City of Montreal has suspended one of its head engineers in light of allegations made at the province's corruption inquiry.

According to a news release from the city, Gilles Vézina, the infrastructure director, was suspended without pay.

The Charbonneau commission's latest witness, former engineer Luc Leclerc, testified last week that he had a "tacit complicity" with his superior at the time, Vézina and three former city employees who were already suspended.

Leclerc said he never witnessed Vézina receiving money from allegedly corrupt entrepreneurs but told the commission he took part in activities organized by the construction bosses. He said Vézina also received bottles of wine as presents.

One-time construction boss Lino Zambito told the inquiry that Yves Themens furnished him with a secret list of companies that were bidding on projects that his Zambito's company, Infrabec Construction, was also interested in bidding for. Engineers Michel Paquette and François Thériault authorized "extras" that inflated the cost of certain projects, Zambito said.

The three employees were suspended on Oct. 2 but their pay was taken away following the latest testimony at the Charbonneau commission.