Province rejects Bowman’s request for conflict inquiry

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This article was published 17/04/2017 (2712 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province has rejected Mayor Brian Bowman’s call for a public inquiry into conflict-of-interest issues at city hall.

A spokesman for Bowman confirmed that the province sent a letter to Bowman informing him of the decision.

Jonathan Hildebrand, Bowman’s director of communications, said Tuesday that despite the rejection, the mayor still believes a public inquiry is the only means to deal with public concerns and will continue to press the province on the issue.

City council overwhelming approved a motion put forth by Bowman in February requesting the province hold a public inquiry into how city hall conducted business, in light of allegations stemming from an RCMP investigation into the downtown police headquarters project.

The motion went beyond examining issues surrounding the police HQ project, asking the province to hold an inquiry into the procedures and processes at city hall that impact business dealings between senior administration and members of council and the private firms and individuals that do business with city hall.

Premier Brian Pallister said he wouldn’t call in inquiry while the investigation is ongoing. Bowman, however, has said there have been several examples across the country where inquiries were conducted at the same time as police investigations.

RCMP affidavits filed in court allege former city CAO Phil Sheegl accepted a $200,000 secret payment from Caspian Construction in exchange for awarding the project to the firm and that Sheegl split the money with former mayor Sam Katz.

No charges have been laid against any individuals named in the affidavits.

The RCMP allege Caspian owner Armik Babakhanians and another Caspian employee altered sub-contractor invoices and fraudulently inflated charges for work done on the project. In addition to the allegations of the secret commission to Sheegl, the RCMP say Babakhanians and others are alleged to have offered a bribe to the police headquarters project manager as a way to facilitate the invoice fraud.

Babakhanians has denied any criminal wrongdoing, as has the lawyer for Katz and Sheegl. The criminal investigation has been going on since December 2014. Information contained in one of the RCMP affidavits indicates the force expects to complete its investigation by the end of May.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca