UPAC continues probe into GÉNIeau water-meter contract
GÉNIeau consortium's $355M contract was cancelled in 2009 amid cloud of suspicion
For the third time this week, Quebec's anti-corruption unit raided businesses reportedly linked to a water-meter contract with the City of Montreal.
About 60 officers with UPAC were deployed at four locations in Montreal and Sherbrooke to conduct the searches.
- Mayor cancels Montreal's $355M water meter contract
- Ex-city manager says he was naive, not corrupt
- UPAC raids engineering firm BPR in Quebec City and Montreal
- Anti-corruption police raid Frank Catania & Associates office in Brossard
No one has been arrested, but investigators are looking for evidence to support suspicions about a $355-million water-meter contract signed in 2007, when former mayor Gérald Tremblay was in office.
The contract, which was awarded to consortium GÉNIeau, was cancelled two years later after costs ballooned and a report alleged there were irregularities with the tendering process.
Tony Accurso owned one of the businesses in the consortium.
On Tuesday, investigators targeted a Brossard business owned by Frank Catania, a man whose name and businesses have surfaced at the Charbonneau Commission.
Last week, searches were conducted at the Montreal offices of engineering-consulting firm BPR.
In spring 2014, members of the firm testified at the Charbonneau Commission about its alleged involvement in a water meter overbilling scheme. Three engineers with the firm pleaded guilty to charges related to their participation in that system.