A City paving contractor is seeking to be reinstated after being banned from City work due to fraud.
A Toronto paving contractor who was banned from City work for defrauding the TTC of $150,000 in a bribery scheme is getting another chance to return to the public payroll.
The paver, and three companies he owned, has been banned from City subcontracting jobs since 2012 after pleading guilty to a charge of paying secret commission to a former TTC employee to obtain lucrative paving work.
A June 27 report of the City’s Procurement Officer said the paver can only be suspended for a maximum five years and recommended that he and two of his companies be eligible to submit bids to obtain City contracts.
The issue will be considered by a General Government Committee and then by City council at its July 23 to 25 meeting.
The paving contractor, who owned three companies, plead guilty to a bribery scheme in which a TTC worker was paid so the man was paid $150.000 from the cash-strapped City.
This is “sending a clear message to any vendor who attempts to manipulate the procurement process through criminal activity such as bribery or offering to pay a secret commission that the City will take steps to ensure they do not do business with those types of vendors in the future,” according to a report by City staff.
It said it is the first time a contractor or supplier has been banned from bidding on City contracts. They have to apply to be reinstated for work from the City.
Police in a release then said Sebastien Corbo, 63, billed the TTC of $198,619 for work from June 2009 to July 2010 that was valued at $54,087, for a total fraud of just over $149,000.
Police said a TTC project manager, his wife and son were also charged with fraud-related offences for creating bank accounts to funnel funds from shady companies.
The paving contractor has been banned for 13 years and has re-applied to get City work.
“The City of Toronto’s Charter of Expectations for its employees sets out that employees are to act with integrity, to avoid conflicts of interest and report instances of fraud,” according to the report.
The TTC employee was fired and received a conditional sentence and had to repay $30,000 in restitution. All charges were withdrawn against the TTC employee’s wife and son.
“The contracts and the work that was done were not in line with the fee invoices that were submitted and paid,” a TTC spokesman said then. “We have very strict, very tight controls around contract management and how invoices are handled.”
The paver plead guilty in 2012 and was convicted of paying a secret commission and sentenced to a four month conditional sentence, one year probation and ordered to pay $30,00 to the TTC. He has since applied to be reinstated.
Under City rules suppliers must disclose any past convictions or those of an affiliated person for offences such as collusion, bid-rigging, price fixing, bribery, or fraud under the Criminal Code or Competition Act unless a pardon has been granted.