Judge points to ‘tainted' process in Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital bidding process at Bondfield trial

The judge presiding over the trial of two men facing criminal fraud charges stemming from the $300-million redevelopment of Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital says the bidding process was 'tainted.'
Vas Georgiou, 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.
'What the public have lost is the belief that this very expensive procurement would be fair without interference by anybody, and what they have is something that stinks,' Justice Peter Bawden told an Ontario court on Thursday.
The Superior Court of Justice case resumed this week after 24 days of testimony last November and December. Since then, Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers submitted written closing arguments amounting to 345 pages, and the hearing on Thursday was designed to allow the judge to address them.
Justice Bawden described this week's hearing as 'a bit unorthodox,' but he said it would allow him to tell the court what he thinks about the voluminous written submissions while providing the lawyers with the opportunity to say if he is wrong.
The judge is scheduled to deliver his verdict on Oct. 7.
Justice Bawden said the public was counting on a fair competition for the hospital redevelopment. Instead, he said, 'the procurement is tainted because of the conduct of the two accused.'
Bondfield president given 'insider information,' prosecution alleges in St. Michael's Hospital case
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 lucrative hospital project, which Bondfield won in 2015.
These alleged communications took place over a bondfield.com e-mail address and a BlackBerry that Mr. Aquino gave to Mr. Georgiou. The Crown has alleged that Mr. Georgiou used the BlackBerry to leak confidential information about the procurement to Mr. Aquino.
Prosecutors allege in their written submissions that the discovery of the electronic devices, set up for the purpose of communicating in secret about the hospital procurement, provide the 'most egregious examples of criminality.'
Defence lawyers counter in their submissions that the Crown is overstating the secret nature of the BlackBerry, adding that breaking the rules is not always a criminal act.
Justice Bawden said most of his big issues involve Mr. Georgiou, whose defence lawyer, Peter Brauti, fielded a number of questions from the judge.
'I fear that I could see a conviction of your client even if I largely accept his evidence,' Justice Bawden said. 'That makes me very nervous.'
Former St. Michael's CEO testifies he was unaware of alleged secret messages between men accused of hospital-bid fraud
Mr. Georgiou testified in his own defence last December. The judge noted that Mr. Georgiou's testimony revealed he was strongly motivated to further establish his reputation in the hospital procurement sector and get the St. Michael's expansion and renovation done.
Justice Bawden told court that it was almost as though Mr. Georgiou had a conflict from the start: He wanted the procurement to succeed, but he was also a member of a hospital committee set up to impartially evaluate bids from construction companies competing for the project.
But, the judge said, the existence of the BlackBerry and e-mail address causes him to see the conflicts in a different light. Had Mr. Aquino not been 'coached' by Mr. Georgiou, he speculated that perhaps the procurement should have failed or proceeded at a higher price.
The only surviving content on Mr. Georgiou's bondfield.com e-mail account was communication between him and Mr. Aquino on the May, 2014, long weekend – three days before the deadline for hospital bids. On May 18, Mr. Georgiou advised Mr. Aquino to keep certain costs out of Bondfield's proposed price, explaining that he could 'always fight later when we are No. 1,' says one e-mail.
Former St. Michael's Hospital executive promoted co-accused's company before it won project bid, court hears
In their submission, Crown prosecutors note that Mr. Georgiou, a busy executive away with his wife for a personal trip in England during the long weekend, answered Mr. Aquino's questions. The fact that Mr. Georgiou brought the BlackBerry with him on a weekend away underscores the intensity of his ties to Mr. Aquino, prosecutors allege in their submission: 'He was ready and expecting to assist.'
Alan Gold, Mr. Aquino's lawyer, told the court on Thursday that Bondfield's bid was done by the May long weekend and had nothing to do with anything Mr. Georgiou said in the e-mails.
'Whatever taint your honour sees is totally harmless,' he said.
Mr. Brauti told the court Bondfield was the uncrowned winner of the procurement by May, 2014, because the other two rival companies had submitted bids well in excess of the budget. Any rule-breaking, he said, did not result in an unfair outcome. And if the outcome was fair, he said, there was no fraud.
At the end of Thursday's hearing, Mr. Gold said the May, 2014 e-mail exchange between Mr. Aquino and Mr. Georgiou did not 'cost victims any money' and, therefore, did not constitute fraud.
Special to The Globe and Mail

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