Michael Applebaum's lawyer painted the main crown witnesses in the ex-mayor's corruption trial as non-credible and untrustworthy people who were saving their own skin by throwing Applebaum under the bus.
Applebaum is facing 14 charges including breach of trust and conspiracy in connection with alleged bribes involving two real estate projects in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges/NDG when Applebaum was mayor there.
The crown's four principal witnesses - including Applebaum's ex-chief of staff Hugo Tremblay - provided similar testimony about alleged cash transactions between Tremblay and entrepreneurs to greenlight zoning changes for a housing project or approve a maintenance contract for a sports complex.
Defence lawyer Pierre Teasdale said the witnesses took part in alleged illegal activities and were never charged. Teasdale questioned why they refused to become collaborating witnesses which would have involved undergoing a lie detector test.
Teasdale suggested the witnesses refused because they would have had to plead guilty to get a reduced a sentence and that would have meant a criminal record.
Teasdale also suggested that after their refusal, the crown had an interest to indirectly offer the witnesses immunity from prosecution to secure their testimony.
Teasdale portrayed Tremblay and other witnesses as calculating and intelligent men who knew police were targeting Applebaum and were figuring out how this would impact them and how to save themselves.
The defence also questioned Tremblay's relationship with investigators in the lead-up to Applebaum's arrest in June 2013, saying it wasn't normal.
Teasdale cited the numerous phone and text messages mostly initiated by Tremblay, sometimes to talk about the case but mostly to talk about personal issues related to Tremblay's job or family. Teasdale also pointed out the Christmas gift one of the investigators gave to Tremblay's daughter.
Teasdale questioned the meeting Tremblay said he had with Applebaum during which Tremblay said the ex-mayor told him, "I'm not an angel" and "We gotta make a living," which Tremblay testified he understood that to mean that Applebaum was open to corruption. Teasdale said no one else corroborated this meeting and that Tremblay had a fuzzy recollection about what was said during a meeting that supposedly marked him.
Teasdale said while his client did not testify in his own defence, their case rests on the fundamental principal of the presumption of innocence and that the crown has to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. No one else testified for the defence during the seven day trial.