One of the 34 people accused in the largest city corruption sting ever in Quebec is pushing to get his charges thrown out because a trial is taking too long, according to his lawyer.
The lawyer for Serge Duplessis has filed a motion for a stay of proceedings at the Laval courthouse, arguing three years for a trial to move forward is an unreasonable delay.
Recently the Canadian Supreme Court ruled in R v. Jordan a provincial court case should be completed within 30 months when there are preliminary inquiries or hearings, or 18 months otherwise.
Back in May 2013, Quebec's anti-corruption squad arrested former Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt—who resigned months prior while denying all allegations of corruption—as well as three dozen others including businesspeople and borough officials.
UPAC alleges they were behind a decade-plus collusion and kickback scheme involving municipal contracts in Laval.
Vaillancourt faces charges including fraud, bribery and gangsterism.
Duplessis, a former vice-president of corporate affairs at the engineering firm Dessau, is accused of corruption, conspiracy of corruption, breach of trust, fraud, and conspiracy—among other charges.