The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 4

I THE GAZETTE, MONTREAL, TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2005 PAGE Tsunami PHOTOS: MARCOS TOWNSEND THE GAZETTE Laval contractor Jose Sardano (left) celebrates with supporters outside courtroom after receiving a conditional discharge and being ordered to pay a $25,000 fine. UN moves! to track spending CONTINUED FROM Al Gilles Bouchard, 58, a retired teacher from Gatineau; Rebecca Clark, 32, a conservationist originally from Annapolis Royal, N.S.; Mathieu Lafond, 28, a financial analyst from Repentigny; and Anaelle Plourde, a 6-month old girl, died in Thailand. June Kander, 77, a Montreal part-time aid worker, died in Sri Lanka. The earthquake and subsequent tsunamis killed 156,063 people in 11 countries, including 104,055 in Indonesia, 30,721 in Sri Lanka and 15,636 in India. The United Nations is taking measures to ensure accountability of how money earmarked for tsunami relief is spent.

Tarnished by its handling of the oil-for-food program in Iraq and beginning another multibil-lion-dollar relief program, the UN is working with international financial experts, including the accounting firm Pricewater-houseCoopers, to devise a public tracking system so that member states and the public who donate to the relief program can follow the process the money takes as it works its way to those in need, through a program accessible through the Internet, according to Jan Egeland, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs. Egeland said he hoped the myriad relief groups and nongovernmental organizations involved in the tsunami efforts would join the financial tracking system that the United Nations is setting up, so that "every citizen can track which dollars are going to what program in which country" One UN agency, UNICEF, teamed with former U.S. president Bill Clinton to launch a $45-million (U.S.) appeal for clean water projects in southern Asia. The drive is in addition to a campaign in which he and George H.W. Bush, Clinton's White House predecessor and the current U.S.

president's father, are pushing for an increase in private donations from people in the United States. Donations from Canadians are expected to reach $150 million by day's end as individuals and groups from millionaires to prison inmates staged an unprecedented show of generosity Canada's foreign aid agencies say they have been blown away by the amount of money received from individuals, which Ottawa has pledged to match dollar for dollar provided they are submitted by today, when the international community will reassess the need for assistance Nonprofit aid agencies report that donations over the past two weeks have been unprecedented, dwarfing all previous fundrais-ing campaigns for such disasters as the Rwandan genocide. Relief agency officials say stories of fundraising efforts from children have been especially heartwarming. Maclachlan College, a private school in Oakville, Ont, will announce today that its 350 students exceeded their goal of raising $100 each for UNICEF, which has so far raised $9.3 million. The Canadian Red Cross has received the largest amount of donations at $76.3 million, with many cheques yet to be counted.

The agency received the largest personal donation in its history yesterday when Kroum and Eva Pindoff, the founders of Music World, made a $5-million contri Corruption Grundman apologizes to constituents 1QQ Irving Grundman is 1 7 00 elected to St. Laurent city council for the first time. MRene Dussault is elected for the first time. two councillors Z.UUIare elected under: Gerald Tremblay's Montreal Is- land Citizens Union party banner, as St. Laurent becomes part of the megacity.

"in AT April 29 Grund-ZUUZman, Dussault and' businessmen Jose Sardano and Luis Viterino are arrested for what the Surete du Quebec calls "acts of corruption and abuse of trust" connected to a zoning change. That change involved a project to build a community centre and education complex for St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church at 4145 Henri Bourassa Blvd. W. When arrested, Grundman is carrying $75,000 that'he'd received from an undercover Surete du Quebec officer pretending to work for the church.

Wiretap evidence at the trial of Sardano and Viterino indicates the money was intended to go to the Montreal Island Citizens Union.) Tremblay kicks Grundman and Dussault out of his party, but they remain as inde- pendent city councillors. May 15 Grundman, Dussault, Sardano and Vitorino are arraigned on various charges. They all plead not guilty. ")AA7Sept. 3 Quebec L)JJ Court Judge Gilles Garneau rules there is enough evidence to send Grundman and and Dussault to trial.

7001 'n a p'ea ZUUt1 bargain, Grundman and Dussault plead guilty to a charge of municipal corruption, thereby avoiding a trial. Eight other charges including conspiracy, breach of trust, defrauding the government and accepting a bribe from an undercover police officer are stayed. They both resign from council. Yesterday Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin sen- tences Grundman and Dussault to 23-month suspended sentences. Grundman must pay a $50,00 fine, Dussault $25,000.

COMPILED BY LIZ FERCUSON OF THE GAZETTE CONTINUED FROM A1 An elected official since 1968 who built a bowling alley empire from scratch, Grundman apologized to his constituents as he left the courthouse. "I'm sorry and I hope they recognize the good things I've done," he said. "I have an obligation to my family, but other than that I have no comment to make." At a pre-sentencing hearing in November, defence lawyer Richard Shadley urged the judge to have mercy on Grundman, who has diabetes and is the primary caregiver for his wife, who has Alzheimer's disease. Grundman's real punishment was the humiliation of having old ladies refuse his gallant offer to hold doors for them, Shadley said. "He's very happy it's over.

It's been a very trying situation," Shadley said. "After an illustrious career his reputation is in tatters." Dussault's lawyer, Francois Daviault, said me sentences were fair. "I don't think it's a slap on the wrist," he said. "Mr. Dussault has to be at home 24 hours a day for six months.

It would have been easy for my client to have a one-month (prison) sentence and be done with it." Crown prosecutor Celine Bilodeau had sought one-year jail terms for each accused. The judge said the corruption charge to which the two veteran councillors pleaded guilty in September drew the public's disgust "Their act had the effect of tarnishing the reputations of all municipal elected officials," Bonin said in his judgment. Because Grundman and Dussault had sworn an oath of office, he added, they deserved a harsher penalty for violating the public trust than did the two construction contractors caught up in the corruption scandal. Jose Sardano and Luis Vitorino each received conditional discharges and were ordered to pay $25,000 fines for agreeing to pay the kickback, meaning their criminal records will be wiped clean when the payment is made. Sardano's son clapped him on the back and his wife beamed at him as the sentence was pronounced.

The judge found Sardano and Vitorino guilty of corruption, even though it was an undercover Surete du Quebec officer who actually negotiated the bribe the councillors were demanding for their help in a project to build a church. Video evidence submitted at the contractors' trial showed the police officer delivering a briefcase containing $75,000 cash to Former city councillor Rene Dussault leaves the courtroom yesterday. bution to the relief fund. Ottawa will match individual donations to the Canadian branches of the Red Cross, OX- FAM, CARE, UNICEF, World Vi sion, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Development and Peace, Save the Children, Mennonite Central Committee and Canadian Lutheran World Relief. Dussault at the former St.

Laurent city hall The two councillors were arrested in April 2002. Wiretap excerpts played in court also captured damning admissions by the four accused. In one conversation, Grundman instructed Dussault in the finer points of negotiating a bribe. "No tickee, no washy," he said, insisting the zoning change not be made until Dussault had the money in his possession. Grundman also crowed that he had experience in such matters.

"I've done this for quite a few years, OK, and so far, so good," he said. In another conversation, the councillors revealed the bribe money wasn't to line their own pockets but to be poured into the coffers of the ruling party at Montreal city hall "Should we phrise our proposal differ ently?" Dussault asked. "These guys don't know. Maybe they think it's for you and "No, it's for the party," Grundman interjected. "If it was for me, everybody would have an envelope like that." Sardano and Vitorino complained in one phone conversation that kickbacks were an added cost of doing business with city hall.

"It's disgusting," Sardano said. "Yeah, but it's like that in Montreal," Vitorino lamented. ahanes thegazette.canwest.com Online Extra: To read a report on how Irving Grundman was caught on police wiretaps bragging about how he has taken kickbacks to benefit his political party, please go to The Gazette's Web site: www.montrealgazette.com Martin travels to Sri Lanka and Thailand this weekend, adding the two countries to the start of a visit to India, China and Japan. OTTAWA CITIZEN NEW YORK TIMES, GLOBAL NATIONAL AND NATIONAL POST CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.