Oct 11, 2012- 2:58 PM
“Nothing,” was the reply, when asked what he’s heard from the force about the progress of the investigation.
Greater Sudbury Police asked the OPP to look into the case last October after a review by Auditor General Brian Bigger revealed that, among other issues, transit management continued to renew contracts with 1211250 Ontario Inc., which operated the transit kiosk, the transit café and the airport café, despite the fact its debt with the city continued to grow year after year. At one point, the company owned the city more than $1 million.
When the contract was terminated Sept. 4, 2009, the company still owed the city $866,537. Further, between January 2004 and September 2009, the majority of kiosk management fees (70 per cent) were paid personally to the director of the company, Tony Sharma, who was paid $533,506.
Hopes for progress into the investigation were raised at a city council meeting in June, when Elsner said the OPP’s investigation into the provincial Ornge scandal delayed the transit probe. Officers working on the case had switched over to look at problems at the provincial air ambulance service, delaying the Sudbury investigation.
“I had an opportunity to correspond with the OPP,” Elsner said June 12. “They will be here (June 13) as well as next week to conduct a number of interviews in relation to this.
“They apologized for the delay in the investigation. All the investigators on this file were transferred over to the Ornge investigation that’s happening right now and that took priority … But they will be moving ahead now.”
Elsner said the OPP has been asked to move as quickly as possible with the transit investigation.
