Charbonneau commission: A look back at the explosive testimony and key witnesses

This week Justice France Charbonneau is expected to hand down her final report onallegationsof widespreadcorruptioninQuebec's construction industry.

The long-awaited report is the culmination of years of work the corruption inquiry was first announced in October 2011 by former premier Jean Charest.

As the commission draws to a close, here's a look back at the key witnesses and theexplosive testimony heard by Charbonneau and her fellow commissioner,Renaud Lachance.

Lino Zambito a former executive ofInfrabecConstruction, a major contractor for the City of Montrealdelivered some of the most hotly anticipated testimony at the corruption inquiry.

He named names and detailed his involvement in a collusion scheme that included billing City Hall for falsified expenses on municipal projects, rigging bids forpublic works contractsand paying off theMob. He also explainedhow a cartel of companies split up contracts in Montreal and Laval.

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Zambitohas since pleaded guilty to six charges, including fraud and conspiracy.

Zambitoalso told the commission thatentrepreneurs on Laval construction projectswere expected togive a "cut" worth 2.5 per centof the value of each contract to MayorGillesVaillancourt.

Within a month,Vaillancourt who had served as Laval's mayor since 1989resigned and is currently awaiting trial on 12 charges,including conspiracy, fraud, breachof trust and gangsterism.

Nathalie Normandeau isa former provincial Liberal cabinet minister who has faced a number of questions regarding illegal campaign fundraising.

She's alsobeen accused of accepting lavish gifts from companies.

Star witness Zambito said he gave Normandeautickets to concerts on several occasions and sent her roses,and he ended up organizing a political fundraising event for her.

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Documents obtained by Radio-Canadalast year showed thatNormandeauoverruled senior bureaucrats when she was municipal affairs ministerto award acontract for an $11 millionBoisbriandwater-treatment facilityto engineering firm Roche.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

Tony Accursofought his subpoena to appear before the commission all the way to the Supreme Court. Star witness LinoZambitotold the commission that the now-deceased boss of the Montreal Mafia, Vito Rizzuto, once mediateda dispute he had with Accurso over the awarding of a particular contract. Accurso denied ever meeting Rizzuto.

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Photos of union bosses andcity officials partying on Accurso's luxury yacht, The Touch, may be amongthe most iconic images of the commission.

Accursofreely admitted to havingclose family-like relationships with high-ranking union leaders, many of whom vacationed in the Caribbean on his boat. But he also denied ever using his connections to secure contracts.

He also toldthe commission that he hadan extensive network of contacts that includedsome members of the Montreal Mafia.However, on his final day of testimony,he denied thealleged Mob connections.

Accurso is awaiting trial on severalcharges, includingfraud, forgery, conspiracy and breach of trust.

Described by police as the "middleman" between the industry and the Montreal Mob, NicoloMiliotomemorably denied even knowing what the Mafia was when he took the witness box in February 2013.

During four days of heated testimony,"Mr. Sidewalk," as he was knownfor his stranglehold on citycontracts,denied virtually every allegation against him.

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He wasinfamously caught on surveillance videostuffing cash from a construction boss into his socks and handing it to a known associate of NickRizzutoSr.,the patriarch of the reputed crime family,ata once-popular Mafia hangout in Montreal.

Miliotoadmitted that hetook money from another construction entrepreneur and brought itto the former Don of the Montreal Mob, but he insisted he was merely doing a favour for a friend and didn't ask what the cash was for.

A former employee of the FTQ labourfederation's construction wing,Ken Pereiratold the commission he stole documents from the union's office that showedits executive director, JocelynDupuis, was running up "astronomical" expenses.

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After he turned to police andinvestigative journalistAlainGravel, he said it became clear his life was in danger.

He said the federation's top brass tried to buy his silence, offering him $300,000. He also testified he wastold to shut up by a highly placed associate ofMontreal's Mob,RaynaldDesjardins.

Pereiraalso testified that organized criminals fixed the 2008 election for the union's executive.

GiuseppeBorsellinoshed light on the extent of the widespread collusion scheme involvingMontreal public works contractsthat saw bids rigged in exchange for kickbacks and false extras approved for additional profits.

Testifying in franglais, Borsellinouttered the line that will go down in history as a succinct summation of how the rigging of infrastructure contracts at City Hall worked: "Sir, all I am saying is, madame la prsidente,is that everything there istruqu."

He readily admitted to taking part in the scheme, however,he saidit was not construction bosses, but a City of Montrealengineer who came up with thecash-for-contracts deal.

Earlier in the commission hearings, that engineer, GillesSurprenant, struggled to hold back tears as he told the commission how he was corruptedby the entrepreneurs. He admitted to pocketing $600,000 in kickbacks.

Borsellino also told the commission that he was actively solicited to attend cocktail fundraisers thrown by political parties, whichpitched them as networking opportunities. He said he eventually stopped attending the eventsbecause he deemed the donations "unethical."

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Gilles Cloutierdescribedhimself as an election fixer in his Charbonneaucommission testimony, admitting to involvement in 60 turnkeyelections in areas around Montrealwhile working for the engineering firm Roche.

The firm, he said, then benefited from municipal contracts.

He regaled the inquiry with tales of riggingelections, cookingbooks, flipping houses and illegal political fundraising,lateradmitting he had lied about some of it. Cloutier was arrested in September2014on perjury allegations related to histestimony.

No charges have been laid.

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Bernard Trpanierearned his nickname, "Mr. Three per cent,"by allegedly charging a three-per-cent fee to companies for which he helped win construction contracts.

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The former head of fundraising for the now-defunct Union Montral partytold the commissiona system of contract-sharing among engineering firms existed before he started with the party in2004.

He said he shared information with the firms about upcoming projects and helped to make sure the work was divided up fairly amongst them.

In July 2015, UPAC raided Trpanier's home in connection withthe water-meter scandal.

Michel Lalondewas the self-described liaison between Montreal engineering firms and the UnionMontralparty.

He detailed for the commission akickback scheme that he says directly benefited the former mayor's party for more than six years.

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Lalonde, an executive withtheengineering firmGnius Conseil, testified that he was asked to act as the "spokesperson" for the construction firms in the decision-making process over which firms were to become eligible for city contracts.

Lalonde testified that he worked withTrpanier to choose contractors from a pool of firms which were in on the bid-rigging.

Lalonde estimated that his firm gave between $50,000 and $100,000 a year to the municipal party between 2004 and 2009.

Mayor Grald Tremblay'sformer right-hand man,Frank Zampino theformer chairof the city's executivecommittee has come under increasedscrutinysince his testimony before the Charbonneau inquiryfor his allegedinvolvement in the awarding of theGNIeauwater-meter contract.

Court documents released at the end of 2014 show that police used his agenda to track Zampino's whereabouts, placing him at meetings with several entrepreneurs in the running for the contract.

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During the course of the corruption inquiry, Zampino'snamepeppered the testimony froma stream of witnesses who had worked inthe construction industry.Many pointed toZampino as the man pulling the strings in an allegedscheme involvingengineering firms makingdonations tothe Union Montral party, in exchange for entry into acontract-sharing arrangement.

Zampino left municipal politics in 2008.He was arrested in 2012and charged withfraud, conspiracy and breach of trust.Investigators allege Zampinowas the mastermind behind a scheme to favour one company in the awarding of a $300 million municipal contractfor theFaubourg-Contrecoeur housing development project.

Former Montreal mayorGraldTremblay,who stepped down from his post while pleading his innocencemonths before his testimony, told the commission he knew nothing about an allegedsystem ofpublic contract collusion.

He learned of the allegations in a2009 auditorgeneral'sreport, he testified.

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He also denied knowing anything about off-the-booksfundraisingby his party, UnionMontral, although other witnesses testified funds weresolicited in exchange for favourable access to city contracts.

UPACraided his home this past summer, citing"reasonable and probable grounds to believe thatTremblayknew" about Union Montral'sillegal financing scheme.

None of the allegations against Tremblay has been tested in court.