TORONTO — The Ontario Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the Ontario Provincial Police has charged two Toronto men with crimes following a lengthy investigation into the procurement of a $300-million redevelopment project at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
One of those charged, John Aquino, is a former top executive with Bondfield Construction Company Group. Aquino, 50, is charged with two counts of fraud over $5000 and one count of taking secret commissions.
The other man charged, Vasos Georgiou, 58, has been identified as a former CAO at St. Michael’s Hospital. He is charged with two counts of fraud over $5000, one count of taking secret commissions and one count on fraud on government.
A March 9 OPP statement said that in 2011, the St. Michael’s Hospital Redevelopment Project was approved for procurement, in co-ordination with Infrastructure Ontario (IO). In December 2012, the hospital and IO launched the procurement process to award the contract for renovations.
The SFO investigation has found evidence of fraud through the offering or receipt of secret commissions in the awarding of the contract in 2015, stated the OPP. The allegations have not been proven in court.
The accused men have been released from custody and are scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice at Old City Hall in Toronto on March 28.
The SFO stated it worked with the Barrie Police Service, York Regional Police Service, Peel Regional Police, Durham Regional Police, the RCMP and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada in gathering information on the cases.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed