Michael Applebaum's long-awaited day in court has arrived
The former Montreal mayor's trial on 14 charges of fraud, breach of trust and conspiracy gets underway this morning.
The charges stem from Applebaum's time as mayor of the Côte-des-Neiges — Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough.
He is accused of accepting bribes in the period between 2000 and 2012 in exchange for approving zoning changes to facilitate several real estate projects.
Applebaum was arrested in June of 2013 and twice tried to have the charges thrown out on the grounds that the process had dragged on for too long.
A judge rejected the bid but did move up the trial date by ten months.
The trial is expected to last about two weeks.