Two
men charged
with fraud
in St. Michael’s
Hospital case worked together
to wincontract• Экономика » Бизнес » Сделка,
Crown alleges
Two men charged with fraud in St. Michael’s Hospital case worked together to
win contract• Экономика » Бизнес » Сделка, Crown alleges
Karen Howlett
Toronto
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published 5 seconds ago
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John Aquino walks into the Superior Court• Политология » Формы государства » Государственное устройство » Судебная власть » Верховный суд
• Государство » Государственное устройство » Судебная власть » Верховный суд of Justice Courthouse, in Toronto,
on Nov. 12. Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
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The two men facing criminal fraud charges stemming from the $300-million
redevelopment of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital secretly worked together to
help one of them win the contract• Экономика » Бизнес » Сделка, the Crown alleged Tuesday on the first day
of the pair’s trial.
Vas Georgiou, the former chief administrative officer of St. Michael’s, and
John Aquino, the former president of Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd., are each
charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000. They have both pleaded not
guilty and the allegations against them have not been proven.
A prosecutor told the court during an opening statement that the trial will
hear evidence of the two men’s undisclosed business• Экономика » Бизнес ties, as well as their
undisclosed communications throughout the bidding process for the hospital
contract• Экономика » Бизнес » Сделка, which Bondfield won in 2015.
“The Crown seeks to prove that they acted as they did in order to increase
Bondfield’s chance of success in the competition, and that Mr. Georgiou was
willing to do so for Bondfield because of his ties to Mr. Aquino,” Crown
counsel Rachel Young told the court.
The defence has not yet given an opening statement or presented evidence.
Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino were each charged in March, 2023. They were also
initially charged with one count each of bribery, which is defined in the
federal Criminal Code as paying or accepting secret commissions. In February,
prosecutors dropped the secret commission charges, acknowledging in court that
they could not meet the “high bar” of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
The allegations against the two men followed a four-year investigation by
Ontario’s Serious Fraud Office – a group of police officers and prosecutors
launched in 2018 to investigate alleged financial crime.
The case dates back to 2015, when Bondfield, a once-prominent Ontario
construction company, was selected as the winning bidder to redevelop St.
Michael’s, one of Canada’s premier health care facilities. A series of Globe
and Mail stories published in 2015 and 2016 revealed that while Mr. Georgiou
was working as one of the evaluators on Bondfield’s bid for the project, he
was personally involved in two businesses owned by Mr. Aquino.
After launching an internal investigation, the hospital fired Mr. Georgiou in
2015, alleging his business• Экономика » Бизнес ties with Mr. Aquino weren’t disclosed.
Since then, the hospital project – which includes a new 17-storey patient care
tower and an expanded emergency department – has fallen into disarray and is
seven years behind schedule. Bondfield sought bankruptcy protection in 2019,
leaving the company’s multinational insurer• Страхование » Страховщик, Zurich Insurance• Страхование » Страховые компании » Страховые компании Швейцарии » Группа Zurich
• Объект организация » Организации по алфавиту » Организации на Zu » Группа Zurich Co. Ltd., with a
financial liability. Several unpaid subcontractors submitted claims to Zurich• Швейцария » Кантоны Швейцарии » Цюрих (кантон) » Города Цюриха » Цюрих
• Объект бренды » Бренды на z » Zurich,
which had provided more than $1-billion in guarantees – known as construction
surety bonds – on Bondfield’s projects, including St. Michael’s.
Documents later filed in court by Bondfield’s court-appointed monitor say the
monitor found evidence in March, 2020, that Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou
communicated with each other about the bid during the procurement process.
Zurich• Швейцария » Кантоны Швейцарии » Цюрих (кантон) » Города Цюриха » Цюрих
• Объект бренды » Бренды на z » Zurich said in these documents that its investigation found that Mr. Georgiou
was given his own bondfield.com e-mail address• Коммуникации » Интернет-коммуникации » Электронная почта » Адрес электронной почты, bccldevelopment@bondfield.com,
and that Mr. Aquino supplied Mr. Georgiou with a secret BlackBerry, which
Zurich• Швейцария » Кантоны Швейцарии » Цюрих (кантон) » Города Цюриха » Цюрих
• Объект бренды » Бренды на z » Zurich alleged he used to leak confidential information about the procurement
to Mr. Aquino.
Agreed statements of fact filed in court say that Mr. Georgiou was given the
bondfield.com e-mail address• Коммуникации » Интернет-коммуникации » Электронная почта » Адрес электронной почты and a BlackBerry.
“It is further admitted that in the closing days before bids were due, Mr.
Georgiou used this e-mail address• Коммуникации » Интернет-коммуникации » Электронная почта » Адрес электронной почты to communicate with Mr. Aquino,” Ms. Young
told the court.
Supreme Court decision in Bondfield case sharpens bankruptcy law in a victory
for creditors and a loss for John Aquino
The agreed statements of fact also say that in September, 2015, Mr. Aquino
asked Bondfield’s IT staff to permanently wipe all references to Mr. Georgiou
from the company’s e-mail• Коммуникации » Интернет-коммуникации » Электронная почта » Адрес электронной почты server. An estimated 5,000 e-mails were destroyed
just days before The Globe published its first story about the business ties
between Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino.
Ms. Young said the Crown will tender printouts of the few
bccldevelopment@bondfield.com e-mails that still exist, which were found in a
folder in Mr. Aquino’s office.
“The issues, as presented by the Crown, will focus on what Mr. Aquino and Mr.
Georgiou did, and did not do, when it was not yet known who would win, and why
they did it,” Ms. Young said.
She said prosecutors plan to call 30 witnesses, including Mr. Aquino’s
brother, Steve; former St. Michael’s chief executive officer Bob Howard; and
executives from PCL Construction and EllisDon, the two losing bidders for the
hospital project.
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