color: #38a6c1; 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. Ontario Construction News is the province's first digital daily construction trade newspaper that complies with Ontario Construction Act regulations for publishing notices and certificates. var td_magnific_popup_translation_ajax_tError="The content from %url% could not be loaded. On Nov. 12, 2015, St. Michaels fired Mr. Georgiou for cause. .td-theme-wrap .sf-menu ul .current-menu-item > a, htmlTag.className += ' ieEdge'; When The Globe asked St. Michaels why it hired someone to oversee a $300-million procurement who had been embroiled in a fraud on a public university, the hospital had a simple answer: No one, including officials from Infrastructure Ontario, told it anything about this. .tds-title2 .tdm-title-line:after, See You Next Year. Its affiliate was in the concrete forming business. In his statement to The Globe, Mr. DuHamel of Sunnybrook said no one had informed the hospital about the testimony. }, Previously, John was an Executive Vice President & Workers' Compensatio n Practice Leader at Benfield Group Ltd (extinct and also held positions at Aon, Patriot National, WTW, Sedgwick. He has lived in Ottawa since 1981. { A warren of crowded hallways with low-hanging ceilings, much of the facility belies the hospitals world-class reputation for research and care. Bondfield, now insolvent, grew rapidly in the middle of the last decade. var td_get_template_directory_uri="https:\/\/www.ontarioconstructionnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/td-composer\/legacy\/common"; .page-nav .current, .block-title > a, Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. The Globe is not naming these sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the procurement. Our structure has evolved into a single-ownership business, but the Aquino family remains at its head. John Aquino was the directing mind of Bondfield Construction Company Limited (BCCL), a construction company that operated in and around Toronto, as well as its affiliate, Forma-Con. 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.. .td-footer-wrapper .td-post-category, } John Aquino Attorney and Author Silver Spring, MD 659 others named John Aquino are on LinkedIn See others named John Aquino Add new skills with these courses Photoshop and Illustrator:. this.atts = ''; Pressed by Zurichs lawyers, though, Mr. Georgiou said thats not at all what Mr. Aquino meant. Sign up today. They were so close, in fact, that in many e-mails Mr. Georgiou referred to Mr. Mendonca by a nickname: Smooth.. And falter it did. var tdb_modal_cancel_alt="No"; Not long after, The Globe determined that, a year before Mr. Georgiou was hired at St. Michaels, he had been fired from Infrastructure Ontario after he was implicated in a fraud at Torontos York University. Mr. Aquino said Mr. Georgiou didnt do anything to earn the remaining $450,000, and he had no explanation for the spreadsheet that indicated he owed Mr. Georgiou $500,000. Under questioning by Zurichs lawyer, Matthew Lerner, Mr. Aquino acknowledged Bondfield performed all of this work free of charge. .td_shadow_btn, A pedestrian passes the St. Michael's Hospital emergency entrance this past fall. .td-search-background:before { The Globe published a story on Sept. 15, 2015 about Mr. Georgious role in the fraud. } var tds_snap_menu="smart_snap_always"; .td_outlined_btn { He sued The Globe as well, but never proceeded past filing a statement of claim. Mr. Aquino was fired from Bondfield in 2018 by his younger brother Steven Aquino, who supplanted him as president. var td_magnific_popup_translation_tPrev="Previous (Left arrow key)"; } .tdm-btn-style3:hover { .dropcap, The new leak was announced Jan. 9, seven Ontario Construction News staff writer Follow Greg McArthur on Twitter: @McarthurGregOpens in a new windowFollow Karen Howlett on Twitter: @kahowlettOpens in a new window. CFO at Bondfield Construction Company Limited Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. .tds-button6 .tdm-btn-text, Alessandra Aquino, B. ENG, MBA, Vice President of Project Development. When The Globe published more stories, including a piece about both mens ties to GP8 Sportwater, Bondfield sued over those as well. 3. .td-block-title-wrap .td-wrapper-pulldown-filter .td-pulldown-filter-display-option:hover i, .td_block_template_10 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, The mass deletion of those estimated 5,000 e-mails, however, did not capture every mention of Mr. Georgiou. 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. Mr. Marafioti has not been charged with any criminal offences. } font-size:13px; tdLocalCache.remove(resource_id); .td_block_template_2 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, gtag('js', new Date()); border-color: #38a6c1 transparent transparent transparent !important; Mr. Aquino was fired from Bondfield in 2018 by his younger brother Steven Aquino, who supplanted him as president. The top two floors remain under construction, Ms. Divell said. .td_block_template_9 .td-block-title:after, Over a number of years, Aquino and his associates were alleged to have carried out a false invoicing scheme by which they siphoned off tens of millions of dollars from both companies. .td_block_template_7 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, Infrastructure Ontarios rules required the steering committee to be unanimous and his concerns meant the procurement could fail. font-family:"Work Sans"; But without Mr. Toigos support, the contract couldnt be awarded. } 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 .td_block_template_12 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, Mr. Aquino wanted to know: Were any clues about his ties to Mr. Georgiou contained in public records? } In December, 2017, there were several e-mails about Mr. Mendonca. He has led construction companies in multiple fields, including masonry, formwork and excavation. 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. Zurich determined that the two men communicated secretly throughout the hospital bidding process. .post .td_quote_box, .tds-button6:after, .tds-progress-bar3 .tdm-progress-bar:after { EllisDons design was considered non-compliant and it was disqualified. .tdm-btn-style2 { (Mr. Georgiou was also suing St. Michaels for wrongful dismissal. About three months later, that firm declared it believed Bondfields bid was compliant and could proceed. Despite Bondfields failure to produce the e-mails, The Globe was successful in quashing the suit in Ontario Superior Court in 2018. box-shadow: 0 2px 16px #38a6c1; The Mareva was brought against John Aquino by Ernst & Young Inc., in its capacity as court-appointed monitor of Bondfield Construction Company Limited. Mark Buckshon, Publisher, Ontario Construction News. } -moz-box-shadow: 0 4px 26px #38a6c1; Mr. Aquino was Bondfield's CEO when it won the St. Michael's contract in 2015. Zurich argues that the alleged collusion should nullify any obligation it has to pay for the completion of the project. } Mr. Mendonca, who also came to the hospital from Infrastructure Ontario, was to report to Mr. Georgiou and help oversee the project. 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. Click here to leave a comment! Two of those buildings, on Gervais Drive in midtown Toronto, housed multiple commercial tenants. this.post_count = 0; //from wp This is a deeply troubling situation and we are taking this seriously, said Craig DuHamel, the hospitals vice-president of communications. 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. } body .td_top_authors .td_mod_wrap:hover .td-authors-name a, 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. var tdb_modal_confirm_alt="Yes"; if ( user_agent.indexOf("android") > -1 ) { Subcontractors were furious. Your email address will not be published. function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} 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. 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. E-mails recovered by Zurich show Mr. Aquino took comfort that Mr. Georgiou was in place for the RFQ. border-color: #38a6c1; For his part, Mr. Georgiou denied, in his examination, having any interest whatsoever in the buildings. 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. .td_module_wrap:hover .entry-title a, The Globe filed a motion in court to have Bondfields lawsuit dismissed under the Protection of Public Participation Act an Ontario law passed to quash meritless lawsuits that are launched not to seek an actual remedy, but to intimidate and suppress speech that is in the public interest. .td-weather-week:before, Steven Aquino replied that, yes, his brother told him he had paid Mr. Marafioti in connection with Bondfield's work at Sunnybrook. body .td_top_authors .td-active .td-author-post-count, Turner Construction has an office in Toronto, but is headquartered in New York. Whats more, it said its investigators which consisted of a team from Toronto law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and forensic auditors from Cohen Hamilton Steger & Co. Inc. had found no evidence of any attempt to inappropriately influence the procurement. Infrastructure Ontario paid Blakes $1.4-million for its work on the report. .tds-button2:before, .dropcap2, It is the first major test of the capabilities of the SFO, which was created in 2018 in response to criticism that law enforcement has struggled to properly investigate and prosecute complex white-collar crime. CLF supplies labourers to GTA job sites for general cleanup work on a temporary or long-term basis. Fax: 905-458-6020. var tds_smart_sidebar="enabled"; Bondfields statement of claim alleged The Globe article had the clear inference that the contract was awarded because of corruption. Law firms that specialize in white-collar investigations often turn to the courts to compel the production of documents. .wpb_text_column blockquote p, { 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. .wpb_tabs li:hover a, Mr. Aquino had also provided Mr. Georgiou with his own bondfield.com e-mail address. Bondfield's office in Vaughan. A construction union deal with a labour supply company rather than directly with a builder . .td-header-wrap .black-menu .sf-menu > .current-menu-item > a, } If they take a large loss funding construction, that is the risk of doing this type of business. It must be recognized that neither the legal nor forensic accounting teams had the power to compel documents and testimony from unwilling parties.. "name": "Home" .tds-progress-bar2 .tdm-progress-bar:after, This article was published more than 1 year ago. #td-mobile-nav .td-register-section a:hover, While most publishers achieve their role through a sales/business development career, Mark developed his business skills after succeeding as a journalist, and he continues to enjoy actively writing, editing and contributing to the publication. .td_wp_recentcomments a:hover, } CLEARWAY HAULAGE, MMC GENERAL . Osler complied with the order, and determined it had no records mentioning Mr. Georgious secret e-mail address, the firms spokesperson, Judy Stein-Korte, said in the statement. The multinational insurer alleges Mr. Georgiou received kickbacks, including free home renovations, and secretly obtained shares, worth at least $500,000, in companies owned by Mr. Aquino. .td-author-name a:hover, .td_block_template_5 .td-block-title > *, The Globe and Mail reported that the complainants include two Bondfield officials who allege Aquino threatened to kill them in the months before he was fired in 2018, and one employee who alleged Aquino returned to a Bondfield storage facility in April of this year and assaulted him with a weapon. By the end of this exercise, more than 5,000 messages were wiped from the companys system, forensic examiners would later determine. "; In 2014 in the middle of the St. Michaels procurement Bondfields then controller, Domenic Dipede, exchanged e-mails with another Potentia shareholder, Ted Manziaris, about Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou investing. 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. .td_block_template_1 .td-related-title .td-cur-simple-item, window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []}; Aquino, 48, was arrested and charged on Sept. 23, York Regional Police (YRP) Staff Sgt. .header-search-wrap .td-drop-down-search:after, Mr. Georgiou exploited his position to influence the direction of the evaluation, the company said in its pleadings. "@type": "WebSite", } return tdLocalCache.data.hasOwnProperty(resource_id) && tdLocalCache.data[resource_id] !== null; Join to connect Bondfield Construction Company Limited. .td-trending-now-wrapper:hover .td-trending-now-title, In its summary of key findings, the special committee declared that the procurement was not compromised. color: #38a6c1 !important; But Mr. Aquinos strategy was not limited to litigation. No one person could materially influence or direct the outcome of the procurement process, he has argued in court filings. Mr. Georgiou was never charged criminally, but York sued him to recover the funds a suit that was settled out of court. On July 23, 2014, the evaluators tasked with reviewing the design submissions of the bidders presented their scores to the steering committee of four senior officials, including Mr. Georgiou. .mce-content-body blockquote p, color: #38a6c1; Can we say I have no involvement?. .td_round_btn, The patient care tower at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto on Aug. 31, 2018. The monitor and . .vc_tta-container .vc_tta-color-grey.vc_tta-tabs-position-top.vc_tta-style-classic .vc_tta-tabs-container { That is why clients turn to us to solve their most complex legal problems. var td_email_user_pass_incorrect="User or password incorrect! var tdBlocksArray = []; //here we store all the items for the current page Earlier, he worked as a journalist and sub-editor, including a stint on the Bulawayo Chronicle in 1979-80, during the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Aquicon has grown exponentially since those early days, and now serves an array of sectors including recreation centres, multi-storey residential facilities, operation centres and post-secondary institutions. Related To Catherine Aquino, Anthony Aquino, Antonio Aquino, Vincent Aquino, Jennie Aquino. .td_wrapper_video_playlist .td_video_controls_playlist_wrapper, Throughout the RFQ stage of the procurement the phase that Bondfield barely survived, if not for the rescoring of the submissions Mr. Georgiou was co-ordinating with Bondfield, readying two buildings, owned in part by Mr. Aquino, for new commercial tenants. 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. Zurich also discovered that when The Globe began publishing stories in September, 2015, about the close ties between the two men, Mr. Aquino ordered his IT staff to wipe all references to Mr. Georgiou from the companys e-mail server. Lawyers for Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou said it would be inappropriate for them to comment while the matter is before the courts. } ,{ 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. Mr. Georgiou also was supplied with his own bondfield.com e-mail address. John Aquino talks on the phone in his SUV last April outside Bondfield's office in Vaughan. Bondfield, a mid-sized, family-owned construction company, was making a push to join the ranks of Ontarios biggest players in public infrastructure. But on Sept. 15, 2015, he was up against an ancient. Supplanted him as president, Anthony Aquino, Vincent Aquino, Vincent Aquino Anthony!.Td_Outlined_Btn { he sued the Globe published a story on Sept. 15, 2015 St.. Before the courts to compel the production of documents examiners would later determine procurement could fail part Mr.. 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