Fire heavily damaged the home of a controversial Montreal businessman last evening and police believe that the blaze was an act of arson.

Neighbours called 911 around 9:30 last evening, summoning firefighters to a home on Jean Girard Street, north of Sherbrooke near the Westmount border.

Police say eyewitnesses reported seeing a man fleeing from the area.

The home belongs to Ari Ben Menashe, an Iraq-born Israeli arms dealer and general deal maker.

He was linked to the Iran-Contra affair and worked for governments in Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic and Israel.  More recently, he had ties to Dr Arthur Porter, the former director of the MUHC who now lives incommunicado in the Bahamas while facing a 300-thousand dollar lawsuit from McGill for failure to repay a loan.