A star witness' appearance at a Quebec corruption inquiry has ended, with his bombshell-dropping performance leaving behind a trail of tattered reputations.
As Lino Zambito wrapped up his eighth and final day of testimony Wednesday, a number of people lined up to defend themselves in the aftermath of an appearance that has shaken the political system and prompted endless speculation about testimony to come.
His description of a construction cartel that colluded with the Mafia and corrupted political parties managed to dent reputations in Montreal, various parts of Quebec, and it also left smaller scuffs on the federal scene.
People began fighting back Wednesday on multiple fronts: at the federal level, the provincial level, the municipal level, a provincial agency and at the inquiry itself.
In Ottawa, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos made a rare public statement about the ongoing scandals in order to distance himself from one of the people Zambito accused of wrongdoing.
Housakos told reporters he never urged anyone in the Harper government to have Robert Abdallah appointed as the head of the Port of Montreal. He confirmed that he knew Abdallah but said he wasn't involved in getting the Prime Minister's Office to promote his ultimately unsuccessful candidacy.
"He never asked me to intervene. I never had a conversation with Mr. Abdal-lah nor with anyone else on that subject," Housakos said.
"The first time I heard anything about this was in the newspapers."
It's unclear whether any players on the federal scene will be asked to testify at the inquiry. A spokesman for the Charbonneau commission told The Canadian Press that the inquiry views federal politics as extraneous to its mandate and said it could even interrupt any testimony that strays too close to Ottawa.
The senator issued his denial as Abdallah himself was preparing to go public with his own counter-attack.
A former Montreal city manager, Abdallah has called a news conference for Thursday to address allegations about a $300,000 kickback allegedly destined for him. He is expected to refute, "point by point," the allegations that have been made about him, a statement released Wednesday said.
A senior executive at Quebec's provincial gaming corporation was also scrambling to protect his reputation.
Pierre Bibeau, a prominent organizer in the provincial Liberal party, has been temporarily reassigned from his job as a vice-president at Loto-Quebec while he fights to clear his name, according to a statement Wednesday.
Bibeau is alleged to have solicited and received a $30,000 cash donation from Zambito for a fundraiser featuring his former spouse, who was then Quebec's environment minister. Zambito testified that the transfer took place inside the gaming corporation's offices.
In a statement, the Crown corporation announced that Bibeau had agreed to the reassignment. Bibeau was in charge of public affairs and communications.
"(Bibeau), like any other citizen, enjoys the presumption of innocence, and he has ... strongly condemned the allegations of the witness against him," Loto-Quebec said in a statement.
Bibeau's reassignment came one day after construction magnate Tony Accurso announced his retirement while denouncing the testimony heard at the inquiry.
He had already denied testimony that he called in a Mafia don, Vito Rizzuto, to have a chat with his business rival, Zam-bito, when he tried to compete for a lucrative public contract.
Zambito delivered his testimony matter-of-factly, in a blue-collar patois, and he flinched only rarely - such as when he chose his words carefully to describe industry ties to the Cosa Nostra.
He ultimately declared that he turned over 2.5 per cent of his proceeds to the Mob, in addition to myriad political kickbacks and big-rigging schemes that ramped up the cost of construction. Zambito is no longer in the construction business, after having been arrested, and he faces criminal charges.
His allegations about Abdallah brought the inquiry uncomfortably close to the seat of federal power.
The Prime Minister's Office originally tried to have Abdallah appointed in 2007 to run the Montreal port - a site of considerable economic importance. His candidacy was resisted by the port authority's board, and he was ultimately rejected.
A mysterious audio recording surfaced last year, in the midst of a federal election campaign, that hinted at a nexus between Accurso, Abdallah and the federal government. Abdallah once worked for Accurso and also knew Housakos from the senator's days working for the municipal government.
The recording purported to feature a chat between Accurso and another construction executive; two voices could be overheard discussing plans to use Housakos to get an influential friend in the PMO - Harper's then-spokesman Dimitri Soudas - to push Abdallah's candidacy.
Housakos was asked Wednesday why his name came up on that tape.
"That's a very good question. A very good question," he told reporters during an exchange after the weekly Conservative caucus meeting. "The only thing I can tell you is that I never tried to influence a political decision of the federal government. Period."
