The Surete du Quebec arrested 10 people Tuesday in a suspected money-laundering ring allegedly masterminded by a biker on the lam.
Officers plan to make a total of 14 arrests throughout the Montreal region as part of Project Diligence, a crackdown on corruption among some construction firms.
Police have also frozen more than $9 million that they say belongs to Normand Marvin Ouimet, a member of the Hells Angels who's on Quebec's Ten Most Wanted list.
He's wanted in an earlier operation called Project Sharqc, in which police rounded up more than 100 bikers and associates for murders, drug dealing and other crimes going back 17 years.
"That's why we ask people today if they have any more information concerning this person (...) to not hesitate to contact us," said SQ Insp. Michel Forget.
Stashed the cash
The SQ held a news conference at their Montreal headquarters to recap the latest round of raids. Provincial police said the ring tried to take control of masonry firms to funnel money through major projects before transferring the cash to overseas accounts.
The suspects face charges including extortion, intimidation, threats, gangsterism and conspiracy.
Investigators carried out raids in more than 70 locations and interviewed 75 witnesses or alleged victims.
The SQ says the arrests are not part of another probe into inflated construction contracts with alleged connections to the political class.
Collusion
The recent municipal election campaign was at times overshadowed by allegations of organized-crime infiltration of the construction industry.
The allegations triggered a provincial-police investigation called Project Hammer.
Media reports have said 14 Montreal-area firms are involved in a price-fixing scheme.
A retired Quebec bureaucrat-turned-whistleblower told Radio-Canada that outside firms would be shut out while participating companies would alternately set the bid price on contracts and the others would then submit higher bids.
The result was that the cost of construction projects was inflated by up to 35 per cent, said the public broadcaster.
