Toigo voted against Bondfield design, Mr. Aquino wrote. border-color: #38a6c1; This article was published more than 1 year ago. The firm has no knowledge about the article that gave rise to the lawsuit, Mr. Matheson said. var htmlTag = document.getElementsByTagName("html")[0]; .tds-progress-bar1 .tdm-progress-bar:after, .widget_calendar tfoot a:hover, 3. .td-post-next-prev-content a:hover, Omitted from Bondfields records were, of course, the 5,000 e-mails that had been destroyed, Mr. Aquinos e-mails to Mr. Weinstock and the e-mails in which Mr. Aquino outlined plans to attack Globe and get the story crushed.. }); Under John Aquinos leadership, the contractor secured several high-profile government contracts, worth a total of more than $1-billion, to redevelop major Ontario landmarks and vital pieces of infrastructure, the newspaper reported. In his statement to The Globe, Mr. DuHamel of Sunnybrook said no one had informed the hospital about the testimony. In his examination for discovery, Mr. Aquino refused, on the advice of his lawyers, to answer questions about his direction to record the costs to the GO parking garage. The bulk of that work was awarded during the hospitals redevelopment in the mid-2000s, when Bondfield expanded the emergency department and worked on several research labs. .tdm-btn-style1 { John Aquino, et al. .tds-button1, "position": 2, .td-theme-slider:hover .slide-meta-cat a, Five companies were vying for the contract: PCL, EllisDon, Bondfield, Turner Construction and Brookfield Multiplex. Both Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino were involved with a startup bottled water company, GP8 Sportwater. Mr. Dipede wrote that Mr. Aquino was ready to invest, including an additional $150k from Vas., Please let me know whom the cheque should be made payable to and if it needs to be certified.. border-color: transparent transparent #38a6c1 transparent; } We'll see you in San Antonio! #bbpress-forums .bbp-topic-permalink:hover, CFO at Bondfield Construction Company Limited Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. As for St. Michaels, the hospital settled its wrongful dismissal lawsuit with Mr. Georgiou. "@id": "https://www.ontarioconstructionnews.com/york-regional-police-charge-former-bondfield-ceo-john-aquino-with-assault-uttering-threats-globe-and-mail/", He passed messages from Mr. Aquino to Mr. Mendonca, and vice versa, through 2017. In 2020, Mr. Aquino was examined by lawyers for Zurich, and a transcript was part of the court filings unsealed at the request of The Globe. The firm was required to conduct a review of its own records when the court-appointed monitor for Bondfield which sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 obtained a judges order requiring anyone with evidence of the deletions to preserve those documents. They also sometimes obtain a courts permission to execute civil search warrants on residences and businesses what is known as an Anton Piller order. } .td-theme-wrap .sf-menu ul .td-menu-item > a:hover, A construction union deal with a labour supply company rather than directly with a builder . And falter it did. After the bids were submitted, the details of each were supposed to be confidential. But the two men went back even further. .td-footer-wrapper .widget_product_search input[type="submit"]:hover, .header-search-wrap .td-drop-down-search:after, The Globe and Mail discovered that information on their own, and I wont confirm it.. Sign up today. Those bonds are insurance-like contracts that were supposed to act as a safety net for the project, and required Zurich to foot the bill in the event Bondfield faltered. } var tds_logo_on_sticky=""; No one person could materially influence or direct the outcome of the procurement process, he has argued in court filings. font-weight:normal; .td-mobile-content .current-category-ancestor > a, Zurich is seeking a court order to rescind the surety bonds it issued. } The court documents contain no other references to StrategyCorp in the days leading up to Bondfields lawsuit against The Globe. And with Mr. Georgiou in a position of influence, Bondfield had a clear edge. Aquino was also charged with breaking and entering after allegedly entering the companys headquarters in April with the intent to steal documents, Pattenden said in an e-mailed statement to the newspaper, which reported that neither Aquino nor his lawyer have responded to requests for comment. "@context": "http://schema.org", So I think I gave him a panettone, and some wine, maybe a cognac bottle, thats about it. .bbp_widget_login .button:hover, By late 2012, the Ontario government had approved a major redevelopment, including a brand new 17-floor patient-care tower. if ( !!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident. .archive .widget_archive .current a, A special committee of the board of Infrastructure Ontario went so far as to conclude that the St. The Globe quoted Steven Aquinos testimony in a letter to Mr. Marafioti, but he did not address it in his response. In its summary of key findings, the special committee declared that the procurement was not compromised. htmlTag.className += ' td-md-is-firefox'; EllisDons Middle East and North Africa (MENA) teams SeaWorld Abu Dhabi project has been awarded the Building Transformation Innovation Spotlight Ontario Construction News staff writer The aggregate value of these projects is in the billions of dollars. .tdm-btn-style2 { .td-subcat-filter .td-subcat-dropdown:hover .td-subcat-more, "name": "Around the province" You have entered an incorrect email address! In response to e-mailed questions from The Globe, Linda Robinson, the then-chair of Infrastructure Ontarios board and a former partner at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, said: I am not going to comment on matters that were reviewed at great length and in painstaking detail by the legal and accounting firms five years ago., Michael Lindsay, the new CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, said in an e-mailed statement that, because the agency selects winners by consensus as part of a committee, it is virtually impossible for individuals to influence the outcome., As for the investigators failure to uncover the secret e-mails between Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou, or the evidence of the home renovations and other alleged benefits, Mr. Lindsay chalked that up to the limitations of private investigators. In another e-mail, Mr. Aquino notes he is with Mr. Georgiou late one evening as a Bondfield employee prepares the companys submission for the hospital project. .td-pulldown-syle-3 .td-subcat-dropdown:hover .td-subcat-more i, }, a, Infrastructure Ontario launched an investigation of his dealings with Vas Georgiou. In March, Justice Bernadette Dietrich ruled that many of those payments, but not all, were transfers under value which means they were made for the purpose of defrauding or evading creditors. .td-subcat-filter .td-subcat-list a:hover, .td_round_btn, Over the years, Bondfield has been awarded a number of contracts at Sunnybrook, which the hospital estimates were worth a total of $129-million. .td-post-content blockquote p, When Mr. Georgiou was examined under oath, his lawyers declined to allow him to answer any questions about the work Bondfield performed with one exception. function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} body .td_top_authors .td-active .td-author-comments-count, Law firms that specialize in white-collar investigations often turn to the courts to compel the production of documents. .td_block_template_16 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, The day after Bondfields win at the court of appeal, the company sought protection from creditors and that, in effect, ended the lawsuit. .wpb_default:hover, The documents, Zurich alleges, show that Mr. Aquino bestowed multiple benefits on Mr. Georgiou, including free home renovations, and that Mr. Georgiou intervened on Bondfields behalf to help it secure the St. Michaels contract. Bondfield faced more than 200 lawsuits from unpaid creditors and subcontractors, and work on the companys projects across Ontario ground to a halt. John Aquino, Bondfields former president, is a target of the SFO probe as well. (Because the hospital had added scope to the project as the bidding process progressed, it had taken the unusual step of letting bidders know its target price was about $301-million.) Bondfields $299-million bid had secured the contract, but now it had to pull off the job without Mr. Georgiou in a position of influence. "name": "York Regional Police charge former Bondfield CEO John Aquino with assault, uttering" .sf-menu ul .menu-item a { body .td_top_authors .td_mod_wrap:hover .td-authors-name a, .td-pulldown-syle-2 .td-subcat-dropdown:hover .td-subcat-more i, Mr. Aquino was Bondfield's CEO when it won the St. Michael's contract in 2015.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail. Bondfield collapsed in 2019, fired Mr. Aquino as CEO and sought court protection from creditors. var td_viewport_interval_list=[{"limitBottom":767,"sidebarWidth":228},{"limitBottom":1018,"sidebarWidth":300},{"limitBottom":1140,"sidebarWidth":324}]; -moz-box-shadow: 0 2px 16px #38a6c1; The report touted the number of hours it spent interviewing witnesses (144) and the number of documents it reviewed (3,785) and made several sweeping conclusions. 1. They own the globe and maybe we can get story crushed.. { #bbpress-forums .bbp-forum-title:hover, } Some information may no longer be current. On Sept. 25, the company disseminated a statement, calling The Globes reporting false allegations. The Ontario General Contractors Association, which Mr. Aquino had recently chaired at the time, reprinted Bondfields statement, and encouraged its members to refrain from commenting on the allegations in the media. Mr. Aquino also wanted to know if his name showed up in any public records connected with a commercial building in Toronto. The shipper promised his family a castle in the mid-1800s, and he was determined to follow through. The Globe and Mail reported last week that arrest followed an investigation by YRP detectives of several complaints from current and former staff of Bondfield in Vaughan. The evaluators gave the company a design score of 70.74 per cent only a hair above the 70-per-cent threshold for disqualification. var td_magnific_popup_translation_tCounter="%curr% of %total%"; That phase is designed to narrow the potential bidders down to a shortlist of the three top candidates. Bondfield Construction reported bullet holes in its building on 2 occasions in the past month in just the latest incident of buildings, particularly in Vaughan, being targeted with guns }, Photos: Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail, Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA FSA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community. "; font-family:"Work Sans"; Mark Buckshon, Publisher, Ontario Construction News. When he was asked about a 2013 e-mail from Mr. Aquino, which showed Bondfield replaced eight dead trees on Mr. Georgious property, Mr. Georgiou replied, I paid for those trees. He explained that he paid Mr. Aquino in cash and sports tickets. background: rgba(0,0,0,0.8); "; color: #38a6c1; If they take a large loss funding construction, that is the risk of doing this type of business. .page-nav:first-child > div, The Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA) released its2022 Municipal Benchmarking Study last week, examining how local development processes, approvals, and Ontario Construction News staff writer Also in September, 2015, Mr. Aquino retained a public relations expert, Liberal insider David MacNaughton and his then firm, StrategyCorp, to craft responses to one of The Globes line of inquiries. Tel: 905-458-1313 ext. { var td_please_wait="Please wait"; In December, 2017, there were several e-mails about Mr. Mendonca. They should continue to fund construction, and then sue the actual fraudsters (John Aquino & Bondfield). Michael Keen, who is now vice-president of facilities at St. Michaels, but at the time was one of the evaluators, was also questioned by Zurichs lawyers. Why on earth would Mr. Mendonca, you and Mr. Aquino, for any legitimate purpose, need to be discussing St. Mikes at all?. Evidence filed in court by Zurich includes Mr. Aquinos handwritten notes, which show he sought advice from Mr. MacNaughton. On Dec. 1, SFO investigators arrived at Sunnybrook to interview three hospital executives, including Mr. Marafioti, about its procurement policies. Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou considered Mr. Mendonca their lifeline, internal Bondfield e-mails show. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. var td_ajax_url="https:\/\/www.ontarioconstructionnews.com\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?td_theme_name=Newspaper&v=12.2"; But in an e-mailed statement, he said he conducted himself in a completely ethical and professional manner in all aspects.. .td_block_template_9 .td-block-title:after, Do not get upset or angry, he wrote. Zurich is suing Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou, as well as Unity Health Toronto, the hospital network that includes St. Michaels, arguing that the bonds Zurich issued on the project should be rescinded because the process was allegedly corrupt. The City of Hamilton estimates 59 million litres of sanitary sewage flowed into the Hamilton Harbour over 26 years from Ontario Construction News staff writer On Oct. 24, 2015, Mr. Aquino also tried, unsuccessfully, to get a Bondfield employee, who was married to a Toronto Star journalist, to persuade The Star to interview him in an effort to counter attack The Globe. Former Bondfield CEO faces seven criminal charges including assault and uttering threats, St. Michaels Hospital says Zurich Insurance is obligated to pay to finish work on Bondfield project, Insurer says it isnt liable for finishing Bondfield renovation. .td-theme-wrap .sf-menu ul .sfHover > a, But Mr. Aquinos strategy was not limited to litigation. .td_block_template_6 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, rgba(0,0,0,0.8) 0%, rgba(0,0,0,0.7) 100%); The mass deletion of those estimated 5,000 e-mails, however, did not capture every mention of Mr. Georgiou. } Mr. Aquino was an owner of the company, and shortly after Mr. Georgious arrival at St. Michaels, the hospital installed two GP8 water vending machines. this.max_num_pages = 0; //from wp #bbpress-forums .bbp-forum-freshness a:hover, .widget_display_replies .bbp-author-name, border-color: #38a6c1; Mr. Georgious lawyer said her client denies any wrongdoing. E-mails recovered by Zurich show Mr. Aquino took comfort that Mr. Georgiou was in place for the RFQ. htmlTag.className += ' td-md-is-iemobile'; [17] John Aquino's employment with the Bondfield Group was terminated on October 15, Justice Dietrich ruled that $22-million must be paid back to the monitor for Bondfield. "position": 3, The panel of judges found that the construction companys suit did not have the classic characteristics improper motives, claims of phantom harm, and bullying tactics of a SLAPP suit. .tdm_block_pricing.tdm-pricing-featured:before, Join to connect Bondfield Construction Company Limited. We will be ok. Asked by Zurichs lawyers what he was doing with Mr. Georgiou so late at night, Mr. Aquino replied, Maybe having a cigar.. Your email address will not be published. .td-author-url a:hover, "; #bbpress-forums .bbp-topic-freshness a:hover, background-color: #38a6c1; Last week, The Globe published a story about the unsealed records evidence that was compiled by Zurich Insurance Company Ltd., the multinational company that issued more than $1-billion in construction surety bonds to Bondfield. But on Sept. 15, 2015, he was up against an ancient and immovable force: the Jewish high holidays. VICE-PRESIDENT & SECRETARY Learn More David Petrie VP OPERATIONS Learn More Kevin Hicks, CPA, CMA CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Learn More Ajith Lokuge, B.Sc. Bordeaux 3 Octr 1778. When asked by Zurichs lawyers how he had such detailed information about a confidential meeting only a day after the argument, Mr. Aquino said he couldnt recall precisely who told him. He also co-chaired, with John Aquino, an annual fundraising gala for Runnymede Health Centre, a small hospital in Torontos west end that was redeveloped by Bondfield in 2007. The answer was yes. #bbpress-forums li.bbp-header .bbp-reply-content span a:hover, But the issues with him were much more extensive than $65,000 in false invoices. Ceo and sought court protection from creditors Join to connect Bondfield Construction company Limited Vaughan, Ontario, Canada 38a6c1! False allegations 2017, there were several e-mails about Mr. Mendonca more extensive than $ 65,000 false. And sports tickets, CFO at Bondfield Construction company Limited 15, 2015, he was up against an and. The surety bonds it issued. sue the actual fraudsters ( john Aquino, Bondfields former president, is target... Mr. Georgiou considered Mr. Mendonca the company disseminated a statement, calling the Globes reporting false allegations for disqualification ;! 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