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![\"Mikaela](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4090341_web1_3974843_web1_220322-Police-HQ-00047.jpeg\")
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Mikaela MacKenzie \/ Free Press files<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Police Service headquarters at 245 Smith St.<\/p>\n
Anderson also confirmed she wrote a note displayed at the inquiry about asking subcontractor McCaine Electric for a \u201cfake inv\u201d (invoice).<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess it would have been maybe a cover letter instead of the word fake but \u2026 that\u2019s what I used,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Garth Smorang asked whether she was specifically asking for an invoice that was not legitimate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could be the reason for the fake (word), yes,\u201d answered Anderson.<\/p>\n
In another email, Anderson asks Babakhanians and others, \u201cIs this a \u201creal\u201d invoice? Since our books are being audited, we have to show a paper trail.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what she meant by the word \u201creal\u201d in that question, Anderson said she was asking whether the invoice should be processed for payment or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could post it in the system but not pay it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Anderson told the inquiry she sometimes put a piece of paper over an address to cover it, then photocopied the document.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told us you covered up addresses sometimes \u2026 so that it looked like it was all for the headquarters project, coming to Caspian?\u201d asked Heather Leonoff, the legal counsel for the provincial inquiry.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorrect,\u201d Anderson answered.<\/p>\n
Problems related to the headquarters at 245 Smith St. triggered multiple legal battles since it was completed in 2016. First expected to cost $135 million, the price soared to $214 million, when late flood damage and security upgrades are included.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, forensic accountant Victor Neufeld told the inquiry he estimates $45 million to $50 million in excess claims were filed for the HQ project.<\/p>\n
Leonoff asked Anderson about Neufeld\u2019s conclusion that Caspian billed the city for a \u201cblended\u201d tab of different construction projects, not just the headquarters work. The expert alleged Caspian sometimes blended costs for a church, Transit garage and police canine unit building into invoices billed for the HQ.<\/p>\n
Anderson testified that a subcontractor was at one point asked to resubmit an invoice under the headquarters that actually reflected construction at the church, something she also believed happened for the canine unit building. She said she didn\u2019t recall whether that happened with the transit garage.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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On Monday, Babakhanians testified he submitted hundreds of false invoices. However, he denied overcharging the city for the work. He also denied billing the headquarters project for work on other construction projects.<\/p>\n
Babakhanians said the invoices he submitted aimed to cover the project\u2019s guaranteed maximum price and an expected profit of $17 million to $18 million.<\/p>\n
The City of Winnipeg is taking steps to claim a combined settlement of up to $28 million for fraud and construction deficiency lawsuits it filed in relation to the headquarters project.<\/p>\n
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
X: @joyanne_pursaga<\/p>\n
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Joyanne Pursaga Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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