Graphologist can't date key note in judges probe

A handwriting expert says he's unable to tell whether former Quebec justice minister Marc Bellemare doctored his notes before the commission looking into allegations of influence peddling in the nomination of provincial judges began.

Luc Brazeau, a federal forensics expert employed by the Canada Border Services Agency, testified at the Bastarache commission in Quebec City Wednesday morning.

Brazeau told the inquiry that existing techniques were unable to date the writing.

He said he was able to determine through a series of tests that the scribbled, cardboard note that Bellemare produced in previous testimony was written with three different pens.

The commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Michel Bastarache, was set up by Premier Jean Charest after Bellemare went public with his allegations last spring.

The former justice minister said he was pressured by Liberal fundraisers, namely construction entrepreneur Franco Fava, to name three people to the bench.

Bellemare produced the handwritten, three-line note earlier in the inquiry (on Aug. 25) as proof of his allegations. It's written in a type of code, with symbols and initials, and in both blue and black ink.

He told the commission that he jotted down the personal reminders on a piece of cardboard while watching a hockey game the night he resigned from politics on April 27, 2004.

Bellemare said he added notes to the note in the days that followed, then put the cardboard away and didn't touch it until the commission began.

The inquiry has adjourned for the day and Bellemare will be back to give more testimony Thursday morning.