The World - News from Feb. 25, 1988

Andre Bissonnette, a former junior transport minister who was fired by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney last year after news reports linked him to a questionable land deal involving the Swiss firm Oerlikon Aerospace, was acquitted of fraud and breach of trust charges by a Quebec jury. However, Bissonnette’s close political associate, Normand Ouellette, was found guilty. The jury said Ouellette defrauded Oerlikon Aerospace in a series of land transactions that tripled the price of a piece of property in Bissonnette’s Quebec electoral district in 11 days. The property was later sold to Oerlikon for a factory site.