Awarding of Montreal superhospital contract under corruption inquiry microscope

MONTREAL – The Charbonneau Commission is back studying the alleged fraud of $22.5 million in one of Canada’s most expensive public works projects.

The inquiry is looking into the awarding of the contract for the $1.3-billion McGill University Health Centre.

A police investigator told the commission today the alleged fraud is valued at $22.5 million and involved ex-senior hospital officials and former executives with engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.

Under the scheme, high-ranking SNC-Lavalin executives allegedly paid off senior officials with the McGill University Health Centre to obtain the lucrative contract.

Among them are Canada’s former spy watchdog Arthur Porter, who served as head of the McGill hospital project.

The investigator said the alleged fraud was originally supposed to be worth $30 million, but changed after SNC-Lavalin officials began to question the transaction.