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. Bondfield is highly regarded in many sectors. color: #38a6c1; He sued The Globe as well, but never proceeded past filing a statement of claim. Three days before the deadline for bids, Mr. Georgiou advises Mr. Aquino to keep certain costs out of Bondfields proposed price. .tdm_block_column_content:hover .tdm-col-content-title-url .tdm-title, But the court documents also offer a rare peek into another aspect of the Bondfield scandal: the many steps taken by Mr. Aquino to suppress the truth, destroy evidence and kill a story that threatened to derail a company. #bbpress-forums .bbp-forum-title:hover, this.ajax_pagination_infinite_stop = ''; //show load more at page x a.vc_btn-black:hover, Mr. Aquino made good on his promise to hire a libel lawyer, though, turning to one of Canadas premier law firms, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. The company was in big trouble. .page-nav:first-child > div, He has led construction companies in multiple fields, including masonry, formwork and excavation. } For its part, Unity Health spokeswoman Sabrina Divell told The Globe that St. Michaels had no knowledge at the time about the work done on Mr. Georgious home. .td-post-next-prev-content a:hover, More than 10,000 pages of recently unsealed court documents show that dealings between a senior Toronto hospital executive and a construction company chief executive officer were far more extensive than reported so far, and the pair went to great lengths to conceal them. The details of the mass deletion are contained in thousands of pages of court documents unsealed in March, at the request of The Globe, by Ontario Superior Court Justice Cory Gilmore. On Feb. 14, 2017, the two men exchanged e-mails about a proposed casino development in Vancouver that one of Mr. Aquinos neighbours was involved in financing. A Roman Catholic religious order founded the hospital on Bond Street in the 1890s.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail. Beginning in 2015, BCCL and its affiliated entities (the Bondfiled Group) began to experience liquidity challenges. Mr. Aquino was fired from Bondfield in 2018 by his younger brother Steven Aquino, who supplanted him as president. *rv\:11\./) ) { googletag.enableServices(); Mr. Aquino had also provided Mr. Georgiou with his own bondfield.com e-mail address. On March 10, Mr. Aquino reached out to Mr. Georgiou when he heard from a Bondfield staffer that Mr. Mendonca was considering quitting: Talk to Smooth. John Aquino talks on the phone in his SUV last April outside Bondfield's office in Vaughan. But the e-mails uncovered by Zurich show he was not deterred. this.td_column_number = ''; As Vice President of Project Development, Alessandra is involved in the earliest stages of projects, from preliminary costing to planning of the construction efforts. }. .td-menu-background:before, Steven Aquino replied that, yes, his brother told him he had paid Mr. Marafioti in connection with Bondfields work at Sunnybrook. .td_wp_recentcomments a:hover, Our Toronto office acts for Ernst & Young Inc., as monitor in the CCAA proceedings of Bondfield Construction Company Limited and various affiliates. .td_outlined_btn, if ( -1 !== navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Mac OS X') ) { } body .tdm-social-item i { Bondfield sued the Globe. Again, like I said, I dont even necessarily believe that it was true.. Aquino, a former Ontario General Contractors Association chair, has been charged with two counts of assault with a weapon; break and enter; and four counts of uttering threats. He has not been charged with a criminal offence, and he did not respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou said it would be inappropriate for them to comment while the matter is before the courts. 235. JOHN AQUINO, MARCO CARUSO, GIUSEPPE ANASTASIO a.k.a. } Yesterday arrived from Edenton the Sloop Sally Cap Norton which place he left the 6th June. htmlTag.className += ' ieEdge'; When questioned by Zurichs lawyers, Mr. Georgiou insists he didnt invest. 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. He added: Weve done a lot of projects there. #bbpress-forums .bbp-pagination .current, .comment-reply-link:hover, .tds-progress-bar3 .tdm-progress-bar:after { body .td_top_authors .td_mod_wrap:hover .td-authors-name a, var td_magnific_popup_translation_tCounter="%curr% of %total%"; set: function (resource_id, cachedData) { Despite being terminated with cause the result of which was supposed to be the full termination of all of his compensation Mr. Georgiou received his full salary for another 18 months. Bondfield faced more than 200 lawsuits from unpaid creditors and subcontractors, and work on the companys projects across Ontario ground to a halt. Several sources with knowledge of Mr. Georgious interventions at the RFQ and RFP stages interventions that benefited Bondfield who spoke with The Globe said they were simply never approached by the investigators. htmlTag.className += ' td-md-is-chrome'; The corruption investigation into Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd., once one of the largest builders of public sector projects in Ontario, has widened to include its contracts with a second Toronto hospital, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. I am with Vas. A bousta, or busta, is an Italian slang term often used to describe cash in an envelope. .td_block_template_5 .td-block-title > *, .logged-in-as a:hover, Mr. Aquino said that, when it came to Potentia, Vas didnt get a penny from me. Mr. Aquino declined to answer any questions about why he didnt disclose the two of them having ownership stakes before bidding on the St. Michaels project. var tdb_modal_confirm="Save"; His request was declined. That phase is designed to narrow the potential bidders down to a shortlist of the three top candidates. If you would like to receive this service, just complete the information below. .block-title, 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.. background-color: #38a6c1; On Dec. 8, Mr. Georgiou e-mailed Mr. Aquino: I told smooth to do whatever he can do to help you and we will work things out. Then, two days before Christmas, Mr. Georgiou e-mailed Mr. Aquino with a cryptic request: Any chance to get something for Smooth today or tomorrow?, Mr. Aquino replied with a terse, two-word answer: Boxing Day. Mr. Georgiou replied: I will give him some more help tomorrow as he needs for xmas. Asked by Zurichs lawyers what help he provided to Mr. Mendonca, Mr. Aquino said he believed he gave him a panettone, the Italian sweet bread that is popular at Christmas. Winning the St. Michaels contract would elevate the company into the big leagues with rivals EllisDon and PCL Construction. Some information may no longer be current. TLDR: Zurich has ceased to fund construction. .td-pulldown-syle-2 .td-subcat-dropdown:hover .td-subcat-more span, .wpb_tabs .wpb_tabs_nav, "; .td_block_template_3 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, Mr. Aquino rallied allies in the construction industry and a prominent Conservative fundraiser. .tdm-btn-style2 { background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, rgba(0,0,0,0.8) 0%, rgba(0,0,0,0.7) 100%); St. Michaels Hospital, founded in 1892 with a mission of treating Torontos poor and vulnerable, long ago outgrew the space it occupies. The new leak was announced Jan. 9, seven Ontario Construction News staff writer Law firms that specialize in white-collar investigations often turn to the courts to compel the production of documents. John Matheson, general counsel of StrategyCorp., said in an interview he cannot talk about the firms business with current or former clients. Mr. Georgiou worked at Infrastructure Ontario from 2006 until he was dismissed in 2012, after he was implicated in a false invoice scheme at Torontos York University. .td-rating-bar-wrap div, We know courts, and courts know and trust us. The sprawling nature of the Bondfield probe also speaks to the companys significant role in Ontarios public sector, as well as the deep impact its 2019 insolvency left on the construction industry. htmlTag.className += ' ie11'; York Regional Police have laid seven criminal charges against former Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd. chief executive officer John Aquino. Alessandra.Aquino@aquicon.com. font-size:12px; In an e-mailed statement to The Globe and Mail he said he could not provide a detailed comment while the matter was under investigation. CLF supplies labourers to GTA job sites for general cleanup work on a temporary or long-term basis. Pressed to explain this by Zurichs lawyers, Mr. Georgiou said Infrastructure Ontario had introduced new criteria that placed more emphasis on local experience, and the evaluators had not properly considered this in their initial scoring. The articles described an undisclosed commercial connection between the company's top executive, John Aquino, and a senior hospital executive, Vas Georgiou, who the paper said had admitted in. Workplace safety and health will continue to evolve, and the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) will continue to connect you with industry expertise, a network of like-minded peers and the latest innovations. The court documents contain no other references to StrategyCorp in the days leading up to Bondfields lawsuit against The Globe. In addition to $2-million in proceeds that allegedly flowed from the phony companies to Mr. Anastasio, forensic auditors also allege they have traced $5.2-million that flowed to Mr. Aquino from 2014 to 2019, court records show. Click here to leave a comment! .td-page-content blockquote p, .td-post-content blockquote p, So much of what Runnymede Healthcare Centre does would simply not be possible without the helping hands and open hearts of the hospital's generous donors. He said he had never personally profited from the scheme, but acknowledged distributing part of the proceeds, in cash, to a friend who had asked him to issue the invoices. On March 19, The Globe successfully argued to Ontario Superior Court Justice Cory Gilmore that the records uncovered by Zurich should be released to the public. .block-title > span, }, } He resumed using his Bondfield e-mail address, bccldevelopment@bondfield.com, which had not come to light when he was fired, and was given a new BlackBerry by Mr. Aquino. 0 0 805 All Time 0. That left only Bondfield, which bid $299-million 45-per-cent lower than PCL. //td_block class - each ajax block uses a object of this class for requests .td_module_wrap:hover .entry-title a, .td-load-more-wrap a:hover, On April 3, 2019, Bondfield Construction Company Limited ("BCCL") and several related entities (collectively "Bondfield") obtained . Using the word we loosely did not infer that I was on his team and I wanted him to win and not the others, he said. .td-header-wrap .black-menu .sf-menu > .current-category-ancestor > a, .wpb_tabs li:hover a, .td-close-video-fixed { Bondfield, meanwhile, launched a $125-million libel lawsuit against The Globe. { Ukraine Interior Minister Killed In Helicopter Crash, Greta v. Polizei, Worlds Oldest Person Dies, Didi reopens to new users after $1.2-B fine, Jordan, Latvia and Israel shake up diplomatic corps after Shadow Diplomats investigation ICIJ. On Dec. 18, 2012, Bondfield's John Aquino, one of the company's owners, received an e-mail from a colleague, "vas is in!" Mr. Aquino and his company had many reasons to cheer the news.. Her extensive experience as a . .td_block_template_1 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, The Surety Association of Canada has called it the largest construction collapse in the countrys history. .td-weather-information:before, Your time is valuable. 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 But Mr. Aquinos strategy was not limited to litigation. If not for this change in scores, Bondfield would not have been qualified.. .td-grid-style-4 .entry-title font-size:25px; But sensitive and confidential bidding information continued to flow Mr. Aquinos way. "@type": "ListItem", 3. Mr. Georgiou replied: I wanted to make sure that the project was a success, regardless of my departure from St. Mikes. He said there was nothing untoward about his continued involvement. Experience CFO Bondfield Construction Company Limited . .td-theme-wrap .sf-menu ul .td-menu-item > a:hover, .page-nav:first-child > div, No one person could materially influence or direct the outcome of the procurement process, he has argued in court filings. This is a deeply troubling situation and we are taking this seriously, said Craig DuHamel, the hospitals vice-president of communications. window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []}; Five companies were vying for the contract: PCL, EllisDon, Bondfield, Turner Construction and Brookfield Multiplex. body .td_block_list_menu li.current-menu-ancestor > a, } var td_ad_background_click_target=""; 32 followers 30 connections. } .tds-button6 .tdm-btn-text, The articles addressed the connection between the appellant and its president, John Aquino, with Vas Georgiou, a senior executive at SMH who was on the committee that awarded the construction contract to the appellant. 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. background-color: #38a6c1; .td-subcat-filter .td-subcat-list a:hover, ul.sf-menu > .menu-item > a { By late 2012, the Ontario government had approved a major redevelopment, including a brand new 17-floor patient-care tower. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but the evidence unearthed by Zurich contains a hint about what Mr. Georgiou received. function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} a.vc_btn-black:hover, Another e-mail from June 10, 2015 after the St. Michaels contract was awarded to Bondfield shows that a Bondfield landscaper wanted to know how he should pay for $4,000 worth of artificial turf Mr. Georgiou wanted for his backyard. 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. Asked what Mr. Georgiou was supposed to do for the remaining $450,000, Mr. Aquino said he could earn it by giving him assistance, advice, you know, like a like a finders fee.. 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. Vas Georgiou was chief administrative officer of St. Michaels Hospital from 2013 to 2015, and John Aquino was CEO of Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd. when it won the coveted contract to create Canadas premier critical-care centre in 2015 a $300-million project that is mired in protracted delays. When Mr. Dipede replied that, indeed, Mr. Aquinos name was in the public filings associated with the building, Mr. Aquino responded: So this reporter could find out., At 2 a.m. on Sept. 10, Mr. Aquino sent instructions to Mr. Dipede and Mr. Aquinos younger brother, Steve: We need to hire the best libel lawyer to go against The Globe. John Aquino also mused about leaning on an associate, who he believed had a relationship with a member of the Thomson family the owners of Woodbridge Co. Ltd., which owns The Globe and Mail. .td-read-more a, "item": { $19 Million Mini Biography John Aquino was created on Apr 20, 1948 in Philadelphia, Pa, USA as John Michael Grochowina. gtag('js', new Date()); body .td_top_authors .td-active .td-author-comments-count, Your time is valuable. The two men also believed, the e-mails show, they still had a key asset safely in place within the hospital. } On Jan. 29, 2013 just a few weeks after Mr. Georgiou started his new job at the hospital a Bondfield employee e-mailed Mr. Aquino to tell him he was working on the companys submission. 08 Jul 2015 By Johnson Ta. After The Globe published a story on Sept. 24, 2015, outlining how Mr. Georgiou had been working on Mr. Aquinos commercial buildings at the same time he was evaluating bidders for the project, Mr. OBrien sprang into action. The only problem that September day was that Bondfields go-to IT official, Benny Weinstock, was off for Rosh Hashanah and was prohibited, religiously, from working until the two-day celebration ended at sundown. This letter will help both my and your lawsuit with the newspaper.. var user_agent = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase(); Includes Address (6) Phone (7) Email (2) See Results. Copyright Of The Record 2020 All rights reserved. We are yet without any Arrivals from any part of America, from Carolina as an embargo is in force for the exporting of Rice,1 it is not extraordinary, but from all the other Provinces some Vessels may be expected as there are . The top two floors remain under construction, Ms. Divell said. "@type": "WebPage", Learn how your comment data is processed. The paper, which has been following developments with the major Vaughan, Ont.-based contractor closely, noted none of the allegations have been proven in court. Manipulated invoices for the renovation and improvement of Ralph Aquino's G, residence approved by Steven Aquino and Ralph Aquino and paid for by Bondfield Construction Company Limited Photo of Steven Aquino, John Aquino, and Joe Anastasio, amongst others, at the H World of Concrete Exposition in January 2017 } For its part, Bondfield produced 56 records. Bondfield collapsed in 2019, fired Mr. Aquino as CEO and sought court protection from creditors. #bbpress-forums li.bbp-header .bbp-reply-content span a:hover, .tdm-btn-style2:before { March 22, 2022 John Aquino, the former president of a major and now bankrupt Ontario construction contractor, plans to appeal a provincial court ruling that puts him and his associates on the. } Suppliers, upset about payment issues, stopped delivering products. this.id = ''; var td_magnific_popup_translation_image_tError="The image #%curr% could not be loaded. Yet, on May 30, just nine days after submitting his bid, Mr. Aquino e-mailed his brother and father to let them know Bondfield had the lowest price: We are low on St. Mikes.. This included landscaping his yard, demolishing his driveway, carpentry inside his residence and working on his gazebo. .td_block_template_9 .td-related-title:after { Mr. Marafioti was not a party to that litigation and was not offered an opportunity to respond to Steven Aquinos testimony. .td_block_exchange .td-exchange-header:before, .td_block_template_4 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item:before { Needs to be unanimous. Turner Construction has an office in Toronto, but is headquartered in New York. An Ontario Superior Court judge found that those funds were illegitimately transferred to subcontractors for services that were never delivered. So I think I gave him a panettone, and some wine, maybe a cognac bottle, thats about it. The author of the letters, which were unsigned, urged the reporters to look into the many ties between Mr. Georgiou and Mr. Aquino, and the awarding of the St. Michaels contract. But on Sept. 15, 2015, he was up against an ancient. Mr. Georgiou advised Mr. Aquino to keep his temper well known throughout Ontarios construction industry in check. Sure enough, the day after Mr. Georgious argument with Mr. Toigo, Mr. Aquino wrote detailed notes about the dispute in his notebook right down to Bondfields low design score. Mr. Ciccolini had fundraised for former federal Conservative cabinet minister Julian Fantino, and Masters brokered some of the surety bond contracts that Zurich is now saddled with as a result of Bondfields collapse. .tdm_block_pricing.tds_pricing2_block.tdm-pricing-featured .tdm-pricing-header, Condrain Company (1983) Ltd. has been charged with six counts of criminal negligence causing death in relation to a crash Ontario Construction News staff writer Andy Pattenden confirmed in an email to Ontario Construction News (OCN) on Monday. John Aquino, the former chief executive officer of Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd., was a domineering boss who was used to getting his way. 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 #bbpress-forums .bbp-pagination .current, VICE-PRESIDENT & SECRETARY Learn More David Petrie VP OPERATIONS Learn More Kevin Hicks, CPA, CMA CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Learn More Ajith Lokuge, B.Sc. #bbpress-forums .bbp-forum-freshness a:hover, .td_block_template_7 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, Mr. Aquino was a part owner of the company that owned the building and, during the same period of time Mr. Georgiou was evaluating bidders interested in redeveloping the hospital, Mr. Georgiou had been co-ordinating construction work at the building. "itemListElement": [ .td-smart-list-dropdown-wrap .td-smart-list-button:hover, Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Domenic Dipede, Bondfield controller at the time, corresponds with a Potentia shareholder about Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou investing in the solar company. htmlTag.className += ' td-md-is-android'; Mr. Marafioti was first hired at Sunnybrook in 1989. The agency is investigating these troubling allegations, said spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins. .tds-button6:before, font-family:"Work Sans"; } .header-search-wrap .td-drop-down-search .btn:hover, .sf-menu ul .menu-item a { .td_block_template_15 .td-block-title:before, Details of the alleged kickbacks contained in e-mails and transcripts were barred from public view. } .td-block-title-wrap .td-wrapper-pulldown-filter .td-pulldown-filter-display-option:hover, John Aquino, the former chief executive officer of Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd., was a domineering boss who was used to getting his way. He passed messages from Mr. Aquino to Mr. Mendonca, and vice versa, through 2017. Mr. Mendonca, who also came to the hospital from Infrastructure Ontario, was to report to Mr. Georgiou and help oversee the project. Learn how your comment data is processed. .td-footer-wrapper .td-post-category, [17] John Aquino's employment with the Bondfield Group was terminated on October 15, The records Zurich has pried out of Bondfields computer servers also call into question the efforts or lack thereof of Infrastructure Ontario, the provinces procurement arm, to unravel the relationship between the two men. .td_quote_on_blocks, He has not been charged with a criminal offence, and he did not respond to a request for comment. delete tdLocalCache.data[resource_id]; body .td_block_list_menu li.current-menu-item > a, Can we say I have no involvement?. 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. 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 has lived in Ottawa since 1981. The Globe and Mail discovered that information on their own, and I wont confirm it.. Bordeaux 3 Octr 1778. background: -o-linear-gradient(top, rgba(0,0,0,0.8) 0%, rgba(0,0,0,0.7) 100%); var tds_smart_sidebar="enabled"; .comment-content blockquote p, The patient care tower at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto on Aug. 31, 2018.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail. In the end, both agencies agreed to hire a third-party engineering consultant to review Bondfields bid. In an e-mailed statement, a spokesperson for Metrolinx, the provincial agency that oversees GO Transit, said it learned about this allocation because of The Globes inquiries. .td-pulldown-syle-3 .td-subcat-dropdown:hover .td-subcat-more i, St. Michael's Hospital in 2015, the year that Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd. won a contract to manage a major redevelopment there. var tdb_modal_cancel="Cancel"; } var htmlTag = document.getElementsByTagName("html")[0]; Is it fair to say you were doing this as a favour to him because of his role and influence at Infrastructure Ontario? Mr. Lerner asked. .td-block-title-wrap .td-wrapper-pulldown-filter .td-pulldown-filter-display-option:hover i, But in an e-mailed statement, he said he conducted himself in a completely ethical and professional manner in all aspects.. .sf-menu > .current-category-ancestor > a:after, 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. But behind the scenes, e-mails show, he continued to act as an aide to Mr. Aquino a whisperer who could help him navigate the politics of the hospital. The story, which detailed how Mr. Georgiou had been implicated in a fraud at a public university, was damning, and would soon spell the end of Mr. Georgious time at the hospital. ] .td_block_template_5 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, In the e-mail exchanges shown at top, a Bondfield staffer tells Mr. Aquino he has found turf for the backyard at Mr. Georgious Toronto home, at bottom right in satellite view, with the house at street view at bottom left. var tdBlockNonce="0e942a88e7"; Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Despite Bondfields failure to produce the e-mails, The Globe was successful in quashing the suit in Ontario Superior Court in 2018. } Sam Ciccolini, one of the founders of Masters Insurance Ltd. and a prominent Conservative party backer in Vaughan, responded to the e-mailed statement: I think a legal action should be filed against the Globe and let them know that the Aquinos are no pushovers and the Ciccolinis will be right beside them to help.. Follow Greg McArthur on Twitter: @McarthurGregOpens in a new windowFollow Karen Howlett on Twitter: @kahowlettOpens in a new window.
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