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A city of Montreal official who was charged with accepting bribes to fix permit problems for a real-estate developer two years ago was found guilty of municipal corruption at the Montreal courthouse Wednesday morning.
Quebec Court Judge Salvatore Mascia said Sadek Lazzouzi, 54, had “easy answers to each element of evidence” when he testified in his defence earlier this year. The judge also said he could lend no credibility to the accused’s testimony.
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While he was under investigation by UPAC, an undercover agent had conversations with the developer, Tinel Timu, who referred to Lazzouzi as “my guy” and a city official who could “make a case disappear.” The investigation uncovered several irregularities, including one where Timu constructed what was supposed to be an apartment building with eight units, but he added a floor to create another eight units.
During the investigation, Lazzouzi was in charge of permits and inspections for the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
Timu was charged in the same investigation, but on April 20, 2023, he was killed when he was shot near his home in Laval’s Chomedey district. The homicide remains unsolved.
On Feb. 19, one of Timu’s employees, Elena Cristina Abrudan, 50, of Boisbriand, pleaded guilty to one count of municipal corruption. She was sentenced to an absolute discharge.
According to a release issued by UPAC in 2022, when the trio were charged: “The UPAC investigation shows that Tinel Timu, a businessman from the Montreal region, and Elena Cristina Abrudan, his employee, attempted to corrupt employees of the Montreal municipal administration in order to obtain undue advantages.
“The investigation revealed that the head of the permits and inspections division of the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, in the city of Montreal, Sadek Lazzouzi, intervened in favour of Tinel Timu, in a non-compliance case.”
Mascia will hear sentencing arguments at a later date.
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