Nothing to see here: OPP ends one of the sexiest scandals in Toronto history without laying a single charge

Nothing to see here: OPP ends one of the sexiest scandals in Toronto history without laying a single charge

Those of us old enough to remember the MFP scandal were surprised by yesterday’s announcement that, after five years of investigation and $14 million, the OPP will not lay any criminal charges against those involved in the dubious doings. It’s been a decade since the computer-leasing brouhaha—in which a $43-million deal between Toronto and MFP Financial Services almost doubled without the city’s authorization—and eight years since the Bellamy Inquiry, which found that “former City of Toronto Treasurer Wanda Liczyk…awarded millions of dollars to an American software consultant with whom she had a sexual relationship.” And yet, here we are.
The news came down yesterday, with the OPP’s Inspector Brad Ross telling the Star:

It was a very labour-intensive investigation and involved the examination of some 800,000 pages of documentary exhibitions including transcripts and other legal submissions that came out of the two inquiries… At the end of the investigation we found there was insufficient evidence to support the laying of charges.

The scandal was composed of unseemly accusations that rarely make it into a Toronto story, including this juicy tidbit from the 2002 inquiry by Justice Denise Bellamy:

On Nov. 1, 1999, MFP salesman Dash Domi withdrew $25,000 from his bank and shortly after phoning city councillor Tom Jakobek visited the city hall parking garage for 13 minutes. Two days later, Jakobek paid down $21,000 on a family vacation.

Money, time, frustration and energy aside, the dismissal of these charges marks the end of Toronto’s last pre-Giambrone sex scandal. Part of us is glad it’s over, but part of us never wanted it to go away.