Municipal affairs minister says he was unaware of Calgary ‘fraud and corruption’ complaint

A code of conduct announcement comes days after current and former Calgary politicians have had their cellphones seized in an RCMP investigation.

Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs was not made aware of the complaint at the centre of a “fraud and corruption” investigation until it hit the news this week that the RCMP had seized the devices of three current and former members of Calgary council.

Dan Williams said he hasn’t been formally provided with information related to the probe, nor has his department received any requests from police.

“The nature of this complaint, as far as I understand, is criminal in nature—accusations of fraud and corruption. As such, the appropriate body for that is the police of the jurisdiction,” Williams said Thursday.

Former mayor Jyoti Gondek, former councillor Sean Chu and current councillor Andre Chabot each had cellphones seized by RCMP following the execution of search warrants at their homes.

The current Calgary mayor, Jeromy Farkas, said it’s his understanding “no members of council past or present are the targets of an investigation,” though he said it’s possible text messages and emails from the three are helping in an investigation of a third party.

He did not say who the third party is.

Few details of the investigation and the nature of the complaint have been disclosed publicly.

“To protect the integrity of this ongoing investigation, we have no further comment at this time,” wrote an RCMP spokesperson.