Montreal bureaucrat: I was a pro at cooking contracts

MONTREAL – A crooked Montreal civil servant says it would have been difficult for any honest supervisor to catch him because he was so good at doctoring contracts.

The now-retired city engineer, Luc Leclerc, told a public inquiry that he was adept at manipulating construction contracts to inflate the final price tag awarded to companies that had given him kickbacks.

Leclerc says he always hid the phony expenses behind legitimate unexpected costs that popped up over the course of a project.

He has been less apologetic while testifying than another colleague who repeatedly expressed remorse for what he had done. Between the two of them, they pocketed more than $1.2 million in kickbacks from construction companies that benefited from rigged bids.

Leclerc has already admitted to pocketing more than $500,000 from companies — in addition to vacations, hockey tickets, wine, Christmas baskets, ham, and home renovation work.

He has described a golf vacation with the head of Canada’s most powerful Mafia family, Vito Rizzuto, and described the don as a charming and funny travel companion.