Vas Georgiou, former chief administrative officer of St. Michael’s Hospital, walks into the Superior Court Justice, in Toronto, on Nov. 22.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Two men facing criminal fraud charges stemming from the $300-million redevelopment of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital had interests together in a property company and a solar business, an Ontario court was told, in addition to a bottled-water venture that came up earlier at their 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. Both men have pleaded not guilty and the allegations against them have not been proved in court.
The Crown’s case against Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino focuses on their alleged undisclosed business connections, as well as their alleged secret communications throughout the bidding process for the coveted job of renovating and expanding St. Michael’s, which Bondfield won in 2015.
A series of Globe and Mail stories published in 2015 revealed that Mr. Georgiou was part of the team selecting companies to bid on the hospital’s revitalization when he was also working on behalf of a commercial property company controlled by Mr. Aquino.
Domenic Dipede, Bondfield’s former chief financial officer, testified on Monday that Mr. Georgiou also had an ownership interest in the company, Gervais Property Management Inc., which owned two commercial buildings on Gervais Drive in north Toronto. However, Mr. Dipede said, Mr. Georgiou’s name did not appear on any of the corporate documents.
“He would have a part ownership in it, but it wouldn’t be shown on the records,” Mr. Dipede said in response to questions from Crown counsel Ellen Weis. Asked why the ownership was concealed, Mr. Dipede said Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou came up with the arrangement and did not discuss it with him.
Mr. Dipede spent Monday and Tuesday under questioning from Ms. Weis, who showed him several e-mails regarding Mr. Georgiou’s and Mr. Aquino’s business interests, including Gervais. A month after Mr. Georgiou joined St. Michael’s in January, 2013, a Bondfield employee sent an a-mail to Mr. Aquino regarding time sheets for Gervais: “As per Vas’ request, I will sign off on hard copies tomorrow.”
Mr. Dipede said Mr. Georgiou put together leases for some of the tenants in the Gervais Drive buildings and approved invoices for work done on them. “I think he was involved in a lot of what was happening on Gervais,” he said.
Another e-mail chain suggests that Mr. Aquino invested in a company called Conundrum Solar Partners on behalf of himself and Mr. Georgiou in February, 2014. An investor in the solar venture e-mailed Mr. Dipede saying, “I was going to give John 50 per cent if he wants and Vas and I were splitting 50 per cent.” Mr. Dipede responds: “John will take the 50% and also an additional $150k from Vas.”
Ms. Weis asked Mr. Dipede if he sent money to Mr. Georgiou for the investment. “I believe I would have,” Mr. Dipede responded.
Mr. Dipede also testified that questions to Mr. Aquino from The Globe and Mail in September, 2015, regarding his commercial relationship with Mr. Georgiou and the businesses they were involved in together, including Gervais, were of “top level” concern within Bondfield.
Ms. Weis presented several e-mails that Mr. Aquino fired off to Mr. Dipede late at night on Sept. 9 and early the following morning. “Who owns shares of GP8,” he said, referring to GP8 sportwater, the bottled-water venture the two men had an interest in. “Can we say I have no involvement?” In another e-mail regarding Gervais, Mr. Aquino said: “Nothing on Vas right?” “No,” Mr. Dipede responded, “He was never shown anywhere on these companies.”
Mr. Aquino also wanted to know if his own name showed up in any public records connected to Gervais. When Mr. Dipede replied that Mr. Aquino’s name was in the public filings associated with the Gervais buildings, Mr. Aquino responded, “So this reporter could find out?”
During the 16 years he worked at Bondfield, Mr. Dipede also managed the finances for Mr. Aquino’s outside investments. Mr. Dipede left the company in 2018. Documents filed in court show that police alleged Mr. Dipede may have been blackmailed by Mr. Aquino, which prevented him from leaving the company earlier. Details of the alleged blackmail attempts are subject to a publication ban.
Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou did not declare any alleged conflicts of interest during the procurement process for the St. Michael’s redevelopment project.