Queen’s Court Chief Justice Glenn Joyal will not preside over the upcoming proceedings surrounding the construction of the Winnipeg Police Headquarters. The Chief Justice informed the various parties, including legal counsel for the City of Winnipeg and a dozen defendants.
In January 2020, Winnipeg filed a civil lawsuit for fraud against former city CAO Phil Sheegl. Construction contractor Armik Babakhanians, his Caspian construction company and several other defendants are also targets in this case. The City accuses them of conspiracy and overcharging for the project, which cost $ 214 million.
Later in 2020, Phil Sheegl convinced the court to order the stay of the proceedings for himself and for the FSS companies and 2686814 Manitoba Ltée. The parties agreed on the summary judgment.
In March 2022, Chief Justice Joyal ruled in favor of the City of Winnipeg, ruling that Phil Sheegl accepted a bribe and violated his duty as a public servant by accepting $ 327,000 offered by Mr. Babakhanian.
Recently, on May 4, the Chief Justice ordered Mr. Sheegl to pay just over $ 1 million in repairs to the City. The former chief executive’s attorney, Robert Tapper, said his client intends to appeal the case.
All of these proceedings do not end in the City of Winnipeg case. The City has filed a new notice of motion to add defendants in this case. The construction of the police headquarters cost $ 79 million more than expected.
It is customary for a judge to make a summary decision in a case that does not precede a similar or related trial.
So far, the Winnipeg Police Headquarters project has been the subject of two municipal audits and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police fraud investigation. which graduated five years later, in 2019, without cases being filed.
With information from the CBC
Source: Radio-Canada
