{"id":486611,"date":"2026-02-20T02:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T02:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/486611\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T02:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T02:01:20","slug":"bribery-allegations-crushing-former-city-of-winnipeg-cao-tells-inquiry-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/486611\/","title":{"rendered":"Bribery allegations \u2018crushing,\u2019 former City of Winnipeg CAO tells inquiry – Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Winnipeg Police Headquarters Inquiry continued Thursday, hearing from former City of Winnipeg CAO Phil Sheegl<\/a> and Caspian Projects Inc. owner Armik Babakhanians.<\/p>\n

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The inquiry seeks to understand the mismanagement of the $214 million redevelopment of the downtown Canada Post building into the current Winnipeg Police Service Headquarters.<\/p>\n

Phil Sheegl told the Winnipeg Police Headquarters Inquiry that the RCMP investigation and civil court case following his controversial time as City CAO were \u201ccrushing,\u201d and called the past 16 years \u201can emotional rollercoaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am so embarrassed as a human being, as a businessman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sheegl described an especially difficult period in his life, beginning in 2018, as news of his business dealings with former mayor Sam Katz and Caspian Construction president Armik Babakhanians made headlines.<\/p>\n

A 2022 civil case found Sheegl accepted a bribe from Babakhanians in connection with the Winnipeg Police Headquarters redevelopment that went overbudget by $79 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big boy,\u201d he said. \u201cI can take it, and I can deal with it. But the repercussions and the ramifications and the feelings that this has put on my family is not deserved by them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really hard over the last 16 years to have the last name Sheegl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInquiry will examine Winnipeg construction project mired in controversy\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The day began with Sheegl\u2019s counsel, Richard Wolson, asking about the value of the acre of Arizona land Sheegl and former mayor Sam Katz sold to Babakhanians for $327,000 in 2011.<\/p>\n

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Sheegl and his business partners, which included Katz, purchased the land in 2005, as development in the area was \u201cgetting off the ground.\u201d Sheegl described the area known as Tartesso as a \u201cmaster planned community\u201d and likened it to Sage Creek in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tRelated News\n\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tSheegl maintains Arizona land sale was legitimate\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The inquiry heard the value of the land increased significantly as a new freeway spurred industrial development in the area.<\/p>\n

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Get expert insights, Q&A on markets, housing, inflation, and personal finance information delivered to you every Saturday.<\/p>\n

Sheegl was asked about an affidavit in which he previously stated the Tartesso land was valued at $47,000 per acre, significantly less than a 2008 appraisal valued it. Sheegl told the inquiry he had made an error in the affidavit and that it was worth more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing to say other than the state of mind I was in,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very big mistake to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheegl said he felt he was \u201csocial enemy number one\u201d at the time and that he felt he was being pushed out of the city, but couldn\u2019t leave due to family reasons.<\/p>\n

He also described how his employment with the City of Winnipeg was the first time he\u2019d managed multiple construction projects at once, having worked in real estate investment for more than 20 years prior.<\/p>\n

In his closing statement, Sheegl defended former mayor Sam Katz, saying he was treated unfairly.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI take great offence to the accusations that were made and that were ruled by the courts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe things that Mr. Katz has done for this city before being mayor, bringing in baseball, bringing in concerts\u2026 And then at the end, that someone would have the\u2026 disrespect or audacity to paint him with this picture, is awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheegl testified for two and a half days. Upon Commissioner Garth Smorang telling Sheegl he was free to go, Sheegl let out a celebratory cheer.<\/p>\n

Armik Babakhanians began his testimony in the afternoon. The inquiry heard he was born in Armenia and immigrated to Canada in 1981. He started what is now Caspian Projects Inc. in 1984.<\/p>\n

Commission counsel Heather Leonoff questioned Babakhanians about his bid on the project, which was by far the lowest of the four offers on the Request for Proposals, asking if he knew his bid was unrealistic.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can lowball a house, but this calibre of project? No,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Babakhanians was also questioned about an email he sent himself following a conversation with Sheegl, which stated Sheegl would get \u201capproval for 126m\u201d and that he thought Sheegl \u201cwanted 2 + 2 for sam and phil but the rest for us.\u201d Babakhanians told Leonoff he didn\u2019t recall what \u201c2 + 2\u201d meant, and that it came up in the conversation and added it to the note.<\/p>\n

Leonoff also asked if the $327,000 he paid to Sheegl had anything to do with his successful bid for the WPS headquarters project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work hard enough, I don\u2019t have to pay people to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Babakhanians\u2019s testimony continues Friday.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Winnipeg Police Headquarters Inquiry continued Thursday, hearing from former City of Winnipeg CAO Phil Sheegl and Caspian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[131236,49,48,2169,46,134,44,194695,714,196014,22073,196013],"class_list":["post-486611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-bribery","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-economy","tag-money","tag-news","tag-phil-sheegl","tag-politics","tag-sam-katz","tag-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg-police-hq"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}