Canada

The head of Quebec's corruption inquiry lost patience with a witness testifying Wednesday about his relationship with construction bosses.

The former head of Montreal public works, Robert Marcil, was seen as being cosy with company owners but he wrapped up his appearance on the witness stand by continuing to deny that he knew anything about the collusion and bribes.

He denied accepting money in return for favourable decisions from the selection committees making the final call on contracts.

Phone and text-message records have shown that Marcil had extensive contacts with various Quebec contractors, despite his senior position at city hall.

He was even caught texting what inquiry officials described as sensitive information to one contractor. Marcil denied the accusation, saying it was public information and that he never told anyone about any conflict of interest.

At one point, commission chair France Charbonneau expressed annoyance with him when he said he couldn't remember if he had contacted a political fundraiser with details from public-works meetings.

"Are you saying that you were stupid and incompetent?" asked Charbonneau.

Marcil replied: "I'm definitely not perfect."

That prompted another put-down from the judge: "We agree on that."