It was a rocky start to the first scheduled day of evidence and witnesses at the trial of ex-executive committee chairman Frank Zampino and five other accused in the Faubourg Contrecoeur alleged municipal real estate fraud.
The trial, which officially began in February of last year, was delayed again this morning. The trial has so far been dealing with legal motions including one to stay proceedings which was rejected last month.
The defence said it was only informed today that police wiretapped certain of their conversations with the accused for other investigations.
Zampino's lawyer Isabel Schurman told the judge it was unacceptable and that it was a violation of a "key constitutional protection" of client-lawyer privilege.
Pierre Morneau, lawyer for former municipal fundraiser Bernard Trépanier, said it was frustrating because they don't know if the wiretap information was nothing or something pertinent to their own case, for example defence strategy.
Quebec Court Judge Yvan Poulin expressed his own concerns about the issue, saying it wasn't "a pebble in a shoe but more like gigantic rocks." He gave the crown a day to divulge the details involving the wiretaps to the defence. The trial resumes tomorrow morning. The judge will see if everything was done by the book and if there should be any further investigation.
Crown prosecutors indicated there'd be more evidence related to other investigations coming in the next three weeks.
Zampino and the other accused are on trial for fraud, breach of trust and conspiracy in connection with the 2007 Faubourg Contrecoeur land deal that saw property intended for housing sold for $4.4-milion when it was assessed at around $31-million.