PQ expels member for taking gifts from engineering firm in previous job

A member of the OppositionParti Qubcoishas been ejected from caucus after admitting to having been in a conflict of interest while he was a municipal administrator.

Gatan Lelivre, who represents the easternQuebecriding of Gasp, will sit in the legislature as an independent.

He admitted Tuesday to having received numerous gifts and perks from engineering firm Roche while serving as director general of the city of Gasp, a job he held between 2001 and 2010.

He was elected to the National Assembly in 2012.

PQ Leader Jean-Franois Lise was critical of Lelivre for failing to inform him about incidentsreported in Quebecor newspapers on Tuesday, including a number of compromising emails.

Lelivre apologized, saying he should not have accepted any benefits and should have disclosed the matter to his political party, but he added that none of it was illegal.

Neither Lise nor Lelivre took questions from reporters at a news conference Tuesday.

The allegations stem from 2008 and 2009 and had been reported duringQuebec's inquiry into corruption in the construction industry.

In his testimony before the Charbonneaucommission, Lelivre denied receiving gifts in exchange for contracts doled out by the municipality of Gasp.