Judge rejects bid by city’s ex-CAO to question Mounties in fraud case

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This article was published 30/03/2021 (2015 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The lawyer for former Winnipeg chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl will not be allowed to question two police officers about their investigation into fraud and bribery allegations tied to the construction of the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters building, a judge has ruled.

In a lawsuit filed in January 2020, the city alleges contractor Caspian Construction, “in concert” with two dozen other defendants, including Sheegl, conspired and “schemed” to inflate the cost of the construction project for their own benefit.

The city alleges in July 2011, shortly after Sheegl awarded the contract to Caspian, the company paid $200,000 to co-defendant Mountain Construction, which then paid the same amount to Sheegl or his company, with another $327,000 paid by Caspian president Armik Babakhanians to either Sheegl or his company.

Lawyer Robert Tapper says Babakhanians had an agreement with Sheegl’s company, Winnix, to purchase property in Arizona for $327,000. He alleged police knew that when they provided sworn statements to the court that were used to secure production orders for Sheegl’s bank records.

In a written decision released last week, Queen’s Bench Justice Glenn Joyal dismissed Tapper’s motion to question RCMP Sgt. Breanne Chanel and Const. Stephane Theoret. He ruled the evidence or information Tapper sought did not meet the threshold required to question witnesses who are not a party to the lawsuit.

“This type of discovery is not relevant to the city’s claim as Sgt. Chanels’s knowledge at the time she swore the June 2016 (sworn statement) is not an issue in the action,” Joyal said.

“The RCMP’s theories as to probable guilt of a suspect, based on the facts known to them at a particular point in time, whether accurate or inaccurate, or as suggested, dishonest, are not material issues in this civil proceeding,” he said.

Joyal ruled last year that Sheegl will be tried separately from the 26 other defendants after Tapper argued the allegations against Sheegl are separate from the allegations that form the substance of the city’s lawsuit.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca