Winnipeg police HQ contractor modified invoices to pay for ‘personal home improvement’: city

The Town of Winnipeg says the contractor in demand of making the Winnipeg Law enforcement Company headquarters used the undertaking to settle outstanding debts with subtrades for income owed on other development tasks, new court filings reveal.

They also say lead contractor Caspian Construction modified invoices to fork out for “individual residence advancement assignments.”

“We see situations of subtrades getting paid out by [Caspian] for intended get the job done lots of months, and without a doubt occasionally many years, immediately after the get the job done was finished (if at any time the operate was concluded) and right after subtrade invoices have been issued to the town,” City of Winnipeg legal professionals Michael Finlayson and Gabrielle Lisi wrote in a brief filed in the Manitoba Court docket of Queen’s Bench on June 13.

The town released a civil lawsuit against dozens of men and women and firms associated in the police HQ building job, together with guide contractor Caspian and its operator, Armik Babakhanians, in January 2020.

The metropolis alleges a scheme to inflate and overcharge the metropolis for construction costs through fraudulent offers and invoices, altered quotations from subcontractors and kickbacks.

The project was concluded in 2016, yrs powering schedule and a lot more than $79 million around budget. The RCMP launched a criminal investigation into the project in 2014, which was shut in late 2019 with no expenses laid.

The city’s most up-to-date court filing says it identified a lot of irregularities in invoicing and payment of subtrades involved in the law enforcement headquarters undertaking by a team referred to as the Caspian defendants.

That group contains Caspian Construction, Caspian Projects Inc., and related companies Mountain Development, Jags Development, Brooke Holdings Ltd., Logistic Holding Inc. and Jaw Enterprises Inc. 

It also features Armik Babakhanians, his spouse, Jenik, his son Shaun, and office supervisor Pam Anderson.

“They compensated for household projects and their own own dwelling advancement assignments executed by subtrades by modifying invoices to make them glimpse job-relevant,” wrote Finlayson and Lisi.

Publish-offs ‘commonplace’ at Caspian: metropolis

The city won’t specify which residence renovations it can be referring to.

However, in 2014 look for warrant documents, RCMP alleged a previous accounting assistant employed by Caspian informed law enforcement invoices had been billed to the police HQ task that had nothing to do with the get the job done currently being performed. That included a $25,000 cheque for a swimming pool at a property that belonged to Shaun Babakhanians, RCMP alleged.

The Mounties also explained that invoices for renovations to a ​private household owned ​by 1 of the users of the Babakhanians family were charged to police headquarters. 

“Caspian at moments named the organizations again … [to] have them modify or reissue the invoices” so it would present the law enforcement headquarters task code, the former accounting assistant explained to investigators. She also said Caspian asked contractors to “delete the dwelling tackle,” the 2014 search warrant documents mentioned.

The court docket filings say the Caspian defendants appeared to settle money owed with subtrades from prior projects by altering invoices, “with or with no subtrade involvement” and submitting them to the city.

In former court filings, the city claimed it acquired an e-mail exchange concerning Caspian worker Peter Giannuzzi Jr. and Shaun Babakhanians.

In a spreadsheet  attached to that correspondence, Giannuzzi referred to, among other factors, “minor residence advancements [being] prepared off on jobs” and “venture profits” of approximately $12.5 million associated to the law enforcement headquarters job.

“If Mr. Giannuzzi is to be thought, creating off individual home advancements on ongoing … projects was commonplace at [Caspian],” Finlayson and Lisi wrote in the June 13 temporary.

It was in truth “so commonplace that Mr. Giannuzzi, astonishingly, then seems to complain that some of his personal property advancements had been not permitted to be composed off on [Caspian’s] ongoing jobs,” they wrote.

None of the allegations have been analyzed in courtroom.

HQ-similar costs, non-related put together: town

The hottest courtroom filings also allege Caspian utilized the law enforcement HQ job to shell out off superb debts owed to subcontractors for other jobs.

As an example, the town alleges that nine of 10 invoices from subcontractor Abesco which were being claimed by Caspian and compensated by the city “appear to merge [police HQ] project-linked costs (approx. $800,000) with $1.55 million for non-job-connected costs,” Finlayson and Lisi wrote. People other tasks included a Winnipeg Transit garage and a law enforcement canine facility, the city suggests.

The city’s temporary suggests a handwritten notation on one particular of people invoices browse, “This was created as for each Armik’s request so we could acquire payment for Transit Garage.”

The new court files say “a comparable sample can be noticed” with a team of defendants collectively referred to as the “Garcea Team defendants.” In distinct, the metropolis details to an bill from Colour Style and design, one of the defendants in that team.

In that invoice, $230,000 relating to perform on Soul Sanctuary — a church on Chevrier Boulevard that was designed by a Caspian-controlled business at the exact same time work was executed on the Winnipeg police HQ project — was claimed by Caspian and paid out by the metropolis as element of the law enforcement HQ task, the town alleges.

City wants monetary paperwork

Finding a comprehensive photograph of payments to subtrades is “crucial” to recognize the character and extent of alleged fraudulent statements to the metropolis, the court files say.

The city is searching for a court docket purchase persuasive the Caspian defendants and consultants that labored on the police HQ to deliver individual and company cash flow tax returns, banking information and money statements. 

“The Caspian defendants are now trying to use the tangled internet that they designed to defraud the metropolis as a protect by which to maintain applicable evidence from the metropolis and this courtroom,” wrote Finlayson and Lisi.

They say the city is now making an attempt to “disentangle that internet” and will call for financial paperwork to do so.