A project coveted by Bibeau is mysteriously cancelled

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The enterprise shopping Centre Beauward, Marc Bibeau, a former treasurer of the liberal Party, will host ultimately not the halls of the palais de justice in Saint-Hyacinthe.

Eric Yvan Lemay

Tuesday, December 12, 2017 01:00

UPDATE
Tuesday, December 12, 2017 01:00

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The ex-treasurer liberal Marc Bibeau referred by a criminal investigation of the UPAC will have to make a cross on the half-million $ that he would have reported to a government contract with Saint-Hyacinthe. The ministry of Justice has mysteriously changed his mind and cancelled his project for new courtrooms on Monday.

The company directed by Bibeau, shopping Centre Beauward, had submitted the lowest price during the bidding in October last year, for a total of 563 426 $.

The agreement was to allow the construction of a new courtroom, a desk for the judge, one for prosecutors, and a common area for the palais de justice in Saint-Hyacinthe, where there is a lack currently space. It was a five-year contract.

Cancelled Monday

Curiously, the project was cancelled in the early afternoon on Monday, barely two hours after a call from our Office of investigation at the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI).

It is this last which had the mandate of the ministry for the rental and fitting-out of premises. The ministry of Justice was working on the record for at least six months.

At the time Beauward was the favorite to win the tender, our Bureau of investigation has published a story on the lavish parties held during which Marc Bibeau, including several liberal ministers and entrepreneurs in his luxurious house in Beaconsfield.

Of modular buildings

Already, in mid-November, the minister of Justice, Stéphanie Vallée, who had said that other options were on the table, and that the idea of the landscaping of the premises outside the palace of justice was not the most ” adequate “.

She referred in particular to fear for the confidentiality of records that would have had to be moved.

However, it has taken a month to conclude a re-evaluation of needs and cancel the call for tenders launched in September last year.

“The adopted solution consists in the installation of modular buildings in the annex to the palais de justice in Saint-Hyacinthe “, said the press officer, Isabelle Married St-Onge.

Several leases

The company that runs Marc Bibeau has many lease agreements with government agencies or Crown corporations such as the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ).

Last April, our Office of investigations had revealed that the Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC) has identified 25 government agencies that have leases with shopping Centre Beauward.

The Auditor general has been mandated to examine government contracts with Bibeau, including their conditions of grant. It shall file its report in may next.

At the beginning of the month of November, the newspaper le Courier of St-Hyacinthe, which had been the first to speak of the tender for the palace of justice, indicated that Beauward was looking for tenants for the complex Johnson.

The office tower has just been built near the place where was formerly the Hotel of the Lords.

In addition to the office tower, Beauward is involved in the construction of a hotel that jouxtera the all-new congress centre, produced in partnership with the City of Saint-Hyacinthe.

Photo courtesy

The Société québécoise des infrastructures had 45 days after the date of the 26th of October to cancel its tender for the premises described below.

Photo courtesy

This, however, is only on Monday that the tender has finally been posted as being cancelled… two hours after the call from our Office of investigation.