Montreal's Interim Mayor Michael Applebaum has been arrested on charges of fraud after taking office at the end of last year vowing to clean up the city.
Applebaum, 50, now faces 14 criminal charges including "frauds toward the government, breach of trust, conspiracy, and municipal corruption," according to North Country Public Radio News.
Applebaum took office in November shortly after Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt was arrested on corruption charges and left office. Robert Lafreniere, head of Quebec's anti-corruption squad, spoke at a news conference Monday morning and said the charges have to do with real estate deals from 2006 all the way to 2011, when Applebaum was borough mayor of Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace, reported NCPR.
"The corruption and collusion will no longer be tolerated," said Lafreniere, according to CBS News. "No one is above the law and you cannot hide from the law."
The news station also reported that Applebaum's appointment was a historical one as he was the first Anglophone mayor the city has had in exactly 100 years.
"He does not have a choice, he should resign," Quebec premier Pauline Marois said during a news conference. "No members of my government had a choice about this support for Mr. Applebaum. We didn't know he could have problems with the law."
But Marois does not believe the city should be placed under trusteeship. That is, the City of Montreal should not be made responsible for by a greater government entity.
"I don't think we should be discrediting every politician [in Montreal] who is acting in good faith," Marois said.
Montreal's provincial minister, Jean-Francois Lisee, said another interim mayor should be appointed until traditional elections are held in November, according to a Canadian radio network. Applebaum has since been released from police custody, only 10 hours after his arrest. Two other persons were arrested in connection with the case, according to reports.
