The city of Winnipeg has found more companies and people it claims are involved in a tax evasion scheme in the construction of the Winnipeg Police Headquarters, according to court documents.
The city now wants to add those names to an ongoing lawsuit against dozens of other entities it claims have talked about inflating and overestimating work on the $ 214 million police headquarters project.
In a notice of request filed on May 4, the city sought leave from the Chief Justice of the Queen’s Court in Manitoba, Glen Joyal, to change his claim in the case, originally filed in 2020.
Police Chief Armik Babahanyans and his company Caspian Construction have already been named in the case, along with former Winnipeg Chief Administrative Officer Phil Sheigl and dozens of other actors involved in the project.
Joyal ruled in March that Sheegl had accepted a $ 327,200 bribe from the Babakhanians as part of a project in which the city bought a warehouse and office complex at the Canada Post and turned it into a new home for the Winnipeg Police Department.
Earlier this month, a judge ordered the former CAO to pay compensation as part of a $ 1.1 million sentence. Sheigl’s lawyer says he intends to appeal.
In its court documents of May 4, the city said it had gathered new evidence in April 2021 from the RCMP, which collects data from Caspian’s computer servers.
The city claims in new documents that subcontractor John Garcia, his wife Mabel and companies controlled by Garceas have defrauded the city with inflated invoices, bills for work that was not done at all, and invoicing for work that is completely unrelated to the police headquarters project.
The city of Winnipeg accuses the artist John Garcia and his wife Mabel of participating in a scheme to defraud taxpayers during the construction of the building of the police station in Winnipeg. (Mabel Garcea / Facebook)
The city also claims that the subcontractor of the police headquarters Abesco Ltd. has charged the city for unrelated work on a church in Winnipeg, a Winnipeg Transit garage and a police dog facility.
Neither the owner of Garcea nor Abesco, Wally Fast, responded to requests for comment.
John Garcia is the director of S&J Construction, a company that has worked on major projects in Winnipeg, such as True North Square.
The city wants to add John and Mabel Garcia and five of their companies – S&J, Color Design Decorating Inc., Strada Construction, Granite Concrete Services and Tuscany Construction – to its list of defendants, citing court documents such as Garcea Group .
S&J Construction, owned by John Garcia, is one of several companies the city wants to add as defendants in a case involving the construction of the Winnipeg Police Department. (CBC)
The city claims that these companies were used by Garcia and his wife “to defraud the city in support of their own interests” and that it recently learned of “irregularities” in the invoices and offers of Garcea Group, which Caspian presented to the city in the course of the plant project.
According to documents, the city paid Caspian $ 2.66 million for berm work, which the company said Strada Construction Ltd. committed at the Wyper Road police station. The city claims that the work was actually done by another contractor – BayView Construction – for $ 1.4 million. Caspian also invoiced the city for this and was paid, court documents say.
“Strada did not have employees approved to work at the Wyper facility during the project’s currency,” wrote court accountant Victor Neufeld, who audited the records that were summarized in court documents.
The city of Winnipeg claims in court documents that it paid Caspian Construction nearly $ 2.7 million for work that Strada Construction said it performed at the Winnipeg police shooting range. The work was done by another company for $ 1.4 million. (CBC)
The city claims that Caspian claimed costs not related to the police headquarters, including invoicing for the work done at Soul Sanctuary, a church on Chevrier Boulevard that was built by a company controlled by Caspian at the same time as the work was done on the project. at the Winnipeg Police Headquarters.
This statement is supported by invoices from the Garcea-owned paint company, Color Design, writes Michael Jack in an affidavit from Winnipeg CAO.
One of the invoices presented as evidence in the case had a handwritten notation: “WPS $ 850,000 Soul $ 230,000”, according to court documents.
In a statement, Soul Sanctuary lawyer Leilani Kagan wrote that the church “has no knowledge of the allegations made by the city in its latest court documents.”
The city also said in a May 4 statement that it had paid Caspian $ 740,000 for additional concrete work on the police headquarters project, which is “supported by S&J quotes.”
However, “the total known payments of S&J and Granite Concrete for project-related work are only approximately $ 50,000,” the city said.
Previous lawsuits in the city’s case include an exchange of emails between Babahanian and his son Sean over John Garcia, director of S&J Construction.
This email is one of hundreds filed by the city of Winnipeg as evidence against Phil Siegel in the city’s case. In this particular statement, Caspian singer Armik Babahanyans and his son Sean are concerned that if Shigel is asked to intervene on their behalf, city officials will become suspicious. (Queen’s Manitoba Court)
This e-mail exchange suggested that Garcea was looking for a way to the Police Police Weapons Project, but later seemed concerned that if Sheegl was asked to intervene, the city’s public procurement officials might become suspicious.
“He has too much hair and it will be too easy for someone to start drawing lines [between] Sheegl, Garcea and Caspian, “Sean Babahanians said in an email to his father and a subcontractor at the police headquarters.
The company’s documents show that Strada was established on October 24, 2011, one day before the date of Strada’s first invoice to Caspian for work performed at police headquarters.
Court documents show that Caspian paid Strada almost $ 1.2 million in 2012, and five days later Strada paid the same amount to Caspian.
The city of Winnipeg claims in a May 4 statement that Caspian paid Strada Construction with an invoice for $ 1,162,586.25, and five days later Strada issued a check to Caspian for the same amount. (Queen’s Manitoba Court)
The company is charged for work done elsewhere: city
In the new lawsuit, the city also blames Abesco Ltd. and its owner, Wally Fast, in taxpayer fraud.
Caspian claims costs not related to the police headquarters, supported by Abesco invoices paid by the city, according to the latest submission.
“These extra-project costs include the costs of work on the Soul Sanctuary project, the Winnipeg Transit Garage project and the K9 project,” the traffic announcement said.
About $ 1.9 million of the $ 2.6 million the city paid Caspian for Abesco’s work at police headquarters was actually spent elsewhere, the city court said.
Abesco manufactures and erects structural steel for large construction projects. It is located in the West Monroe neighborhood of East Kildonan. (CBC)
Previous court documents include an exchange of emails from 2013 between Armik Babakhanians and Abesco’s Fast.
“Wally, please call me for an important need to make progress on transit, but you are claiming to be the police,” Babahanyan told Fast in an email.
None of the city’s allegations have been proven in court.
Prior to the city’s civil case, the police headquarters project was the subject of two external audits and an RCMP investigation into fraud and falsification.
This investigation, which lasted five years, ended in 2019 without charges.
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