Anti-corruption unit raids McGill superhospital offices

Quebec'santi-corruption unit executed search warrants at offices of the McGill University Health Centre on Tuesday morning, in the latest twist of the province's ongoing crackdown againstquestionable dealings involving the construction industry.

About a dozen officers with Operation Hammer carried out warrants at the MUHC's Guy Street offices and met with several people linked to the investigation.

A spokesperson for UPAC, theprovincial anti-corruption task force,said fewer than five warrantswere executed, but they are part of an "important operation."

She said few details about the investigation would be released at this time.

The MUHC confirmed that investigators with the anti-corruption unit arrived at its offices on Guy Street at 8 a.m. Tuesday looking for information related to the awarding of contracts for the Glen site of the MUHC's new superhospital.

The project, a public-private partnership, was awarded in 2010 to the consortium Groupe Immobilier Sant McGill.

The MUHC said it is co-operating fully with investigators and wouldn't comment further.

Other searcheswere carried out on the Island of Montreal on Tuesday, but UPAC personnel didn't say where. No arrests have been made so far as a result of the searches.

The 217,500-square-metre superhospital,being builtnear the Vendme metro station in Montreal's west end, has been in the workssince 2001, with constructionfinally beginning in 2010. The $1.3-billion facility was supposed to open in September 2014 but, according to aJuly report by credit rating agency DBRS, has been delayed until January 2015.

An international consortium headed by Montreal-based engineering giant SNC-Lavalin and British company Innisfree Ltd.is partnering with the Quebec government on the project. SNC-Lavalin's Montreal headquarterswereraided by the RCMPin April,thought to bein relation to $56 million US in mysterious payments that the company made to undisclosed agents on two megaprojects. The company has refused to indicate the whereabouts of the projects.