A disgraced Montreal bureaucrat told a public inquiry Wednesday why he never reported the rampant corruption he witnessed at city hall: It wasn't his job.
Gilles Surprenant, a retired city engineer, took to the stand for a fourth day and was questioned about hundreds of thousands of dollars he received in kickbacks on rigged sewer contracts.
He had earlier admitted to receiving $600,000 but, upon being grilled about 91 contracts by inquiry counsel, the actual tally appeared to be more than $700,000 in kickbacks through 2008.
Surprenant said the inflated prices on projects was well known in his office and everyone was aware - from his own bosses right down to low-level administrative assistants.
He was asked by inquiry counsel why he didn't do anything to stop the system.
Surprenant replied that he spoke to his bosses about it but didn't press further. He said it wasn't up to him to go to the police or blow the whistle publicly. "I don't think it was my role, as a simple functionary, to call the police about it," Surprenant said.
"I'm not a villain. I am a civil servant who has been corrupted," Surprenant said, emphasizing that the corruption originated with contractors.
In a startling development, Gilles Vaillancourt, the mayor of Laval, Que., said he's temporarily stepping aside and will consider what to do next. The sudden announcement Wednesday evening came hours after the latest raids by the province's anticorruption squad.
Vaillancourt, 71, said the move was prompted by doctor's advice - not by search warrants.
"You will understand that in recent weeks a number of events have created a very painful situation that has affected the mayor's life," said a statement from the municipality, the third-largest in Quebec.
A spokeswoman for the provincial police anticorruption unit said the raids were carried out at financial institutions. She refused to confirm reports that the targets were safety-deposit boxes linked to Vaillancourt. One report by Radio-Canada linked the police raids to enormous amounts of cash - "tens of millions of dollars" - held in overseas accounts.
