Toronto city councillors are set to decide the fate of a contractor that intentionally overbilled the city more than $1 million, a breach of the supplier code of conduct uncovered by a forensic audit conducted for the city. Staff are recommending Capital Sewer Services Inc. face the maximum suspension Toronto can issue against suppliers that break the city's rules: a five-year contracting ban on it and all its affiliated companies.
"The evidence that the defendants acted dishonestly over the course of the procurement process is overwhelming," Superior Court Justice Peter Bawden said in his ruling. The judge said insider information that Georgiou provided to Aquino via secret emails was "confidential, highly material and obviously intended to assist Bondfield to win the procurement. That conduct would be recognized as objectively dishonest in any circumstances, but when seen in the context of a strictly regulated public procurement, it is unmistakable."