Former MNA explains how Vaillancourt offered him cash-stuffed envelope

MONTREAL - A provincial politician explained to Charbonneau Commission interrogators Thursday that former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt boldly offered him bribes almost as soon as he was elected.

Vimont Liberal MNA Vincent Auclair said he first met Gilles Vaillancourt in 2002, when Auclair won a by-election for the Laval-area seat.

Auclair explained how he was a political neophyte when Vaillancourt met him one-on-one and offered him an envelope jammed with cash.

"I don't get it," testified Auclair, saying he did not know why he was being given cash.

According to Auclair, Vaillancourt said, "It will help you for your expenses," and refused to take no for an answer. Auclair had no interest in accepting an illegal donation, but finally took the envelope just to get out of Vaillancourt's office.

"I was stunned. He was the mayor of Laval. Not just anybody," said Auclair.

The fledgling politician walked out of the office and told his aide he had been offered a bribe. The pair then went to their office and spoke to their campaign organizer George Boudreau, confident he could fix it.

Boudreau told Auclair he would take care of it -- and later on, told Auclair the problem had been fixed.

The whole situation left Auclair feeling angry and upset with his higher-ups within the Liberal party, since they had arranged for the meeting with Vaillancourt.

"Who was I to attack Gilles Vaillancourt?" asked Auclair, referring to the powerful mayor whose party had steamrolled over almost all opponents in every election since first being elected in 1989.

Auclair felt the cash was dirty money and he would have been forced to do something he did not like if he kept it, but he regrets not coming public sooner.

"I paid a high price eight years later," when Auclair told Radio-Canada reporter Christian Latreille in 2010 about the bribe.

When the report went public, Vaillancourt's lawyer sent him a strongly-worded letter threatening a defamation lawsuit and urging Auclair to make a retraction.

Auclair never backed down and his family paid the price: his father's company lost all business with Laval, including contracts they were in the middle of competing.

The city of Laval refused to issue invitations to Auclair to attend public events, events that other Laval MNAs were invited to.

A year later, Vaillancourt dropped the lawsuit but Auclair had already made his decision: he did not run again in the 2012 election.

Vaillancourt is currently charged with multiple counts of gangsterism, fraud, breaching the public trust and money laundering.

Lambert takes stand

Lawyer Pierre L. Lambert, who was arrested in a police raids on May 9, told the Charbonneau Commission Thursday that Laval bureaucrat Jean Gauthier offered him a job managing city money in 2006, to replace another worker who had left for undisclosed reasons.

Lambert explained to interrogators Thursday that he felt flattered by Gauthier’s trust in his ability to take on a job requiring considerable discretion.

He was already close to mayor Vaillancourt, whom he had known for years, however the two only had work-related discussions in those years, he said.

Lambert gave $10,000 to the PRO party between 1998 and 2010, according to deposit slips presented by the commission. He said he never gave cash. He also donated $9,175 to the Quebec Liberal Party between 1997 and 2009 but he claimed that the Liberals never compensated him for those donations.