Je regrette amèrement, amèrement tout ce qui s'est passé

"I never should have taken the money, I think I'll never forgive myself. I bitterly, bitterly regret everything that happened," said Gilles Surprenant.

The former city of Montreal engineer seized the opportunity to repent as lawyer Michel Dorval, representing Mayor Gerald Tremblay's political party, Union Montreal, conducted his cross-examination of the witness today at the Charbonneau Commission.

On the heels of yesterday's testimony when Surprenant sought to minimize his role and responsibility in the collusion and corruption that went on, the disgraced engineer was asked if he would ever have blown the whistle on a corrupt colleague, if he himself had not been on the take.

Surprenant hestitated, cleared his throat nervously and finally answered "I might have."

Photo: Charbonneau Commission screenshot