Former Winnipeg CAO must pay $327K received as bribe to city as damages, judge rules
CBC
A judge has decided how a former head of Winnipeg's public service must repay a $327,200 bribe.
In a decision published Wednesday, Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal ruled former Winnipeg chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl must pay the city $327,200 in damages.
In March, Joyal ruled the former CAO received a bribe and breached his duty as a senior city official in 2011, when Sheegl accepted $327,200 payment from Armik Babakhanians, the owner of Caspian Construction.
That payment was made days after Sheegl, acting as Winnipeg's CAO, awarded Caspian a police headquarters construction contract later set at $137 million, according to court documents.
In March, Joyal decided Sheegl must pay back $250,000 he received from the city as severance, submit $100,000 to the city in punitive costs and also cover the city's legal costs.
Joyal also ruled at that point that Sheegl had to pay back the $327,200 he received from Babakhanians, but asked lawyers for Sheegl and the city to make submissions about where that money should go.
In Wednesday's decision, Justice Joyal determined the $327,200 should be paid to the city as "damages for breach of trust, which was a constituent part of the civil bribery committed against the city."
Joyal wrote Sheegl had a contractual duty to conform to the city's code of conduct, which forbids city employees from receiving financial favours from people involved in a business relationship with the city.
The judge rejected an argument from Sheegl's legal counsel that no decision on payment could be made until Joyal rules on a separate lawsuit by the city against Babakhanians and dozens of other defendants.
Joyal noted Sheegl's lawyers were the ones who moved to sever the former CAO's case from that of Babakhanians and the other defendants.
Joyal has yet to rule on that case.
CBC News has asked legal counsel for Sheegl and Babakhanians for comment.
In an email to members of city council on Wednesday afternoon, City of Winnipeg chief administrative officer Michael Jack expressed satisfaction with Joyal's latest decision.
"This is essentially the disposition that the city had requested and argued for, so we are very pleased with this additional successful result," Jack said.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.
New poll results released by Narrative Research suggest the Progressive Conservatives are heading into Tuesday's provincial election with a commanding lead over their political rivals.
A measles outbreak in New Brunswick is set to push Canada's annual case count to the highest it's been in five years, highlighting how infectious the disease is and how low vaccination rates have allowed it to take hold, says an immunologist.