Former Shindico broker testifies company president paid bribe to former Winnipeg CAO
John Pearson says on courtroom stand he has seen documents indicating Sandy Shindleman paid Phil Sheegl $85K
A commercial real estate broker who spent more than two decades working with Winnipeg property development and management company Shindico said in court Wednesday that he's seen documents suggesting one of its executives paid a bribe to a former City of Winnipeg official.
John Pearson, through his company 4818106 Manitoba Ltd., is suing Shindico president Sandy Shindleman and his brother, executive vice-president Robert Shindleman, for $5.1 million over the dissolution of a 22-year partnership.
On the third day of a trial about the lawsuit, Pearson told Manitoba Court of King's Bench Justice Sadie Bond that he's seen documents indicating Sandy Shindleman paid an $85,000 bribe to former senior public servant Phil Sheegl related to the construction of a fire-paramedic station in Winnipeg.
"In preparing for this trial, I saw documents that were produced that indicate that Sandy Shindleman gave a bribe to Phil Sheegl of $85,000," Pearson said in the courtroom during a cross-examination by Jason Kendall, legal counsel for the Shindlemans.
"It's documented in the productions that you provided, to his company FSS financial support services of $85,000 related to the Sage Creek fire hall.
"It was in documents as early as 2009 and still showed on the books, according to your productions, as late as 2023 without being repaid."
Pearson's company said in a statement of claim that Pearson worked with the Shindlemans from 2000 to 2022. According to the statement of claim, Pearson was frozen out of partnership with the Shindlemans after ending a brokerage association between Pearson's ICI Properties and Shindico Realty.
Pearson said in the statement of claim that he ended the brokerage association partly because of "negative media attention" the Shindleman brothers were receiving.
"The Shindlemans were alleged to be involved in political corruption," Pearson's company said in the statement of claim, adding Pearson and his son Brennan wished to avoid "reputational harm."
In a statement of defence, the Shindlemans denied the allegation Pearson ended his brokerage association with Shindico due to negative press and denied the allegation they were involved in political corruption.
The Shindlemans also denied in the statement of defence that they had a partnership with Pearson's numbered company that required unanimous agreement by all three parties before major decisions were made.
In court, Kendall said Pearson continued to work with Shindico for approximately one decade after Winnipeg media published stories about Shindico in relation to its work for the City of Winnipeg.
Pearson said in court his concerns about "something wrong" are real.
Shindico helped the City of Winnipeg build four fire-paramedic stations in the early 2010s, according to city council reports and an external audit of the construction of those stations. The company was paid $3 million to build one of those stations, No. 27 in Sage Creek, those records say.
Outside the courtroom, Kendall declined to comment on Pearson's statement about a document suggesting there was a payment from Sandy Shindleman to Sheegl.
CBC News requested comment from Sheegl via email and text.
Sheegl served as a senior Winnipeg public servant from 2008 to 2013. He was hired by the city as property director in 2008, promoted to deputy chief administrative officer in 2009 and became CAO in 2011, according to city records.
In a decision issued in 2022 regarding a civil lawsuit from the City of Winnipeg, a judge determined Sheegl accepted a $327,200 bribe from the owner of the main contractor on Winnipeg's police headquarters project.
Sheegl lost an appeal of that decision in 2023.
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With files from Joanne Levasseur