MONTREAL - Twenty-two murder charges have been laid against the former business partner of a construction contractor involved in the controversial renovation of Parliament Hill.

The charges were laid in a Montreal courtroom against an alleged Hells Angels boss, Normand (Casper) Ouimet, who had spent almost two years on the lam.

He was arraigned in court under very tight security Tuesday, one day after police swooped in on a taxi cab he'd been riding in; Ouimet was slapped with 29 charges, most of them for murder.

"It was a very important arrest," said Crown prosector Madeleine Giauque. "There's . . . 22 murders over 17 years, from 1992 until 2009."

Ouimet was involved in the family company of Paul Sauve, who won a $9-million renovation contract on Parliament Hill.

Police say the Hells Angels attempted to bully their way into Quebec's bricklaying industry in recent years and use it for money-laundering. They allege Ouimet masterminded the operation.

Sauve has said the Hells finagled their way into his own family business at a time when he needed quick cash to finish a major project.

Sauve has since lost the contract because his company, LM Sauve, ultimately went bankrupt.

The problem-plagued renovation has become embroiled in political scandal and work has ground to a halt.

A masonry company involved walked off the job and contacted police earlier this month, and the project is being investigated by a parliamentary probe and the RCMP.

In an interview with The Canadian Press last year, Sauve described the troubles he suffered as the Hells started muscling in on his family business in 2006.

He said they tried to take over his company. After a series of threats, he says he went to the police.

"I had taken some serious hits -- cars getting rammed into, trucks burning, being told there wouldn't be a trial because there wouldn't be a body," Sauve said in an interview last year.

"But the day the threats came against my 10-year-old daughter I said, 'That's enough."'

Ouimet was no longer involved with the company by the time Sauve won the Parliament Hill contract in 2008.