"Appalled" and "humiliated" by the "legal limbo" he finds himself in, the former second-in-command at Montreal city hall is asking the court to scrap his second criminal trial on fraud and corruption charges.

We will never know if the Church of Scientology paid its employees the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Quebec's labour standards board ruled they are owed. The parties have reached a confidential, out-of-court settlement.

After extensive investigations, dozens of city bureaucrats have been canned over the years. Employees who refuse to adhere to the administrations values are no longer welcome, says the city's comptroller.

An investigation by Quebec's labour standards board has concluded the Church of Scientology of Quebec owes 62 employees in its Quebec City branch more than $750,000 in unpaid wages and vacation pay.