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Criminal Investigation Requested into Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and City Manager Penny Ballem

Posted on February 23rd, 2010
by janefromvancouver in All News, Blogosphere News, Breaking News, Canada News, Country News, crime, North American News, Olympic Coverage, Poland, Russia News, US News Photo: Mayor Gregor RobertsonÂ

On Friday, Vancouver Police were asked to conduct a criminal investigation into Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson; Vancouver City Manager Penny Ballem (also a Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee member); the City’s Security Co-ordinator at Carnegie Center, Skip Everall; and Director of Carnegie Center and the Olympics Homeground Festival, Ethel Whitty. These individuals, it was alleged in the complaint, have knowingly maintained manufactured witnesses and other fraudulent evidence on a City of Vancouver “Security” database. Complaints about libelous claims in security reportsÂ stored onÂ this database, reports written by civilian City personnelÂ about Downtown Eastside residents often without their input, are not uncommon. This is the first time though that a criminal complaint has been lodged.

Police have specifically been asked to investigate a case in which a woman discovered that a security report hadÂ been writtenÂ about her containing the claim that “15 witnesses”, all anonymous, could “corroborate” the fact that she required a security report and deserved to be banned from access to Vancouver Public Library computers. When a witness came forward, this one with a name, to offer eye-witness testimony corroborating theÂ targeted woman’sÂ claim that these “15 witnesses” had been fabricated, City management avoided interviewing him even though he is at Carnegie Center daily. When asked to interview him, Carnegie Director Ethel Whitty, who is also running the Homeground Festival whichÂ has been providingÂ free food and “media preparedness” worshops for the poor during the Olympics, avoided doing so. The witness said that when he ran into her on the stairs at Carnegie Center, “She just asked me about my music.”

Due to the fact that Mayor Robertson is also Chair of the Vancouver Police Board, Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu has been asked to ensure that an external police force carry out the fraud investigation.Â  Robertson did not respond to requests for comment, madeÂ toÂ his assistant Dana Bertrand and to Kevin QuinlanÂ of the City’s Media Room, onÂ either the fraud allegationsÂ or previous failed efforts to have fraudulent materialÂ expunged from the database.

The victim of the alleged fraud says she made every effort to have this problem resolved outside the criminal justice system, butÂ MayorÂ Robertson’s administrationÂ continues to knowingly maintain these “phony witnesses” on their database. The last time the victim communicated with Ballem was on Jan. 13, 2010 during aÂ 25 minuteÂ in-person meeting at City Hall. She says Ballem and Robertson have had over a year to remove the fraudulent witnesses from the security database, butÂ in her view have beenÂ “covering asses”.Â Â TheyÂ topped up Whitty’s salary and her budget so that she couldÂ hold a festival during the Olympics.

There is a link betweenÂ thisÂ case and theÂ case of the Georgian athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died on the Luge track during the February Winter Olympics:Â  Penny Ballem.Â  In addition to being City Manager, Ballem is the City of Vancouverâ€™s representative on the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Team [VANOC]. As theÂ criminalÂ Â complaint against Ballem for allegedly maintaining fraudulent evidence on a government database was being prepared, VANOC jointly issued a statement with the International Olympic CommitteeÂ denying any responsibility for the athleteâ€™s deathÂ on the Luge track, claimingÂ that he died as a result of his ownÂ â€errorâ€.Â  Everybodyâ€™s looking at the lugerâ€™s track record, says the woman involved in the criminalÂ complaint, â€œI think they should look at Ballemâ€™s track record.â€
 
2 users commented in " Criminal Investigation Requested into Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and City Manager Penny Ballem "

janefromvancouver said,

Although Mayor Robertson has not responded to multiple requests for comment on the criminal complaint lodged against him for fraud, yesterday he found time to twitter:

“headed west for family fun and big sleeps. stunning ferry trip. surf beckons.”



“Everybody’s looking at the luger’s track record, says the woman involved in the criminal complaint, ‘I think they should look at Ballem’s track record’.”

Ballem has since been accused of lying to City Council, telling them that the City’s award-winning Chief Electrical Engineer, Ark Tsisserev, had resigned when in fact she had fired him. (Under the Vancouver Charter, only Council can end his appointment.) Tsisserev had apparently been raising safety concerns about Olympic venues.

Frank Kurz of the Fire Technicians Network wrote the following on his website on March 8. 2010:

“Ark Tsisserev’s dismissal wasn’t about budgetary restructuring but had everything to do with removing an individual who had demonstrated he was not going to be dazzled or pressured by political imperatives related to Olympic venues where there was a risk to public (or athlete) safety. He didn’t receive the benefit of sixty days’ notice because that would have left him in a position that may have continued to threaten VANOC’s (and the Mayor’s) objectives.”









