By QMI Agency, May 17, 2012 - Source

MONTREAL - Frank Zampino, the former right-hand man to Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay and the head of the city's executive committee, was arrested Thursday morning in what appears to be part of in the city's ongoing anti-corruption crackdown.

Also arrested was construction contractor Paolo Catania.

Zampino was arrested at 6 a.m. at his residence in the borough of Saint-Leonard. Catania was arrested Wednesday night at Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport, where it appears he was trying to get on a plane.

Police said more arrests could be made Thursday.

The case appears to be linked to the sale of lands and condos in Montreal. In 2008, it was revealed the city's housing corporation sold to Cantania at a cost four and a half times lower than the market value on the pretext that they were heavily contaminated, which was false.

Catania's contracting business has been the target of several searches in recent months, by both the revenue minister and investigators working on Operation Hammer, the anti-corruption unit recently set up to crack down on the epidemic in the province.

Police are expected to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. to provide more details of the arrests.