Construction mogul Tony Accurso played no role in Laval corruption, court hears

Tony Accurso was the man at the top of his construction companies, but he didn't participate in corruption within Laval's system of municipal contracts.

That's what the former construction mogul's lawyer told Superior Court Justice James Brunton and a12-person jury Wednesday at the Laval courthouse, as the defence prepared to callits first witness in the case.

Accurso, 66, is facing charges of fraud, two counts of conspiracy, breach of trust and corruption.

In his opening statement, defence lawyer Marc Labelle told the jury his client wasn't a playerin the scheme. He described Accurso as the man in charge who didn't handle the daily upkeep of his businesses.

The defence will call seven witnesses to testify, including Accurso's former business accountant and former colleagues. The last witness will be Accurso himself.

Not a micromanager

On Wednesday, the jury heard from Mario Boyer, who ran a club and restaurants for Accurso between 1998 and 2011.

Boyer said Accurso let him run the businesses at the former complex Le Tops as he saw fit and wasn't interested in micromanaging.

Last week, Crown witness Marc Gendron, a retired engineer, told the jury he collected $200,000 in cash from Accurso in exchange for construction contracts about 15 years ago.

Gendron was described as a former collector for ex-mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, who pleaded guilty to fraud on the government, breach of trust, conspiracy and fraud in 2016.

The jury heard Crown evidence that the cash exchange between Accurso and Gendron happened at the far end of the parking lot of the Onyx restaurant, which was owned by Accurso and run by Boyer.

However, Boyer testified that whenever Accurso would come to the restaurant, he would only park near the entrance or on a street nearby, as he didn't like to walk.

Boyer was also asked by the defence if he ever saw Accurso with large sums of cash. He said his former boss wasn't a man who carried a lot of money, usually paying for things with his personal credit cards.

Accurso's son, Jimmy Accurso, also was in the witness box Wednesday, describing his role in the family's former construction business.

The trial continues.