Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/12/2014 (2110 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Service was aware of allegations of impropriety surrounding the city’s new police headquarters nine months before Manitoba Justice asked the RCMP to investigate the claims.

This summer, former justice minister Andrew Swan and deputy justice minister Donna Miller were told in a letter a pair of whistleblowers went to Winnipeg’s police with allegations of doctored police-headquarters invoices, a payment to a member of city council and an instruction to inflate another invoice.

The author of that letter, dated July 10, claimed Winnipeg’s police interviewed the first witness in November 2013 but chose not to interview the second witness, who approached police in January 2014.

The first witness alleged invoices were inflated to "the benefit of the firm billing the city" and that "a company involved in the project also allegedly provided funds to a member of council" for reasons that are unclear.

The second witness claimed their firm "was also allegedly asked to invoice the city," according to the letter.

The allegations are now in the hands of the RCMP after justice officials forwarded the letter to the Mounties in August.

Police Chief Devon Clunis acknowledged whistleblowers came to the Winnipeg Police Service. But the chief cast doubt on the claim one of the witnesses wasn’t interviewed and suggested no allegation was made about a payment to a member of council.

"I can tell you that information that came forward to us was acted upon," Clunis said Thursday at a Public Safety Building press conference, declining to specify what Winnipeg police were told.

"I’m not going to get into specifics at this point. What I will say is that the investigation which is currently ongoing by the RCMP, I think we should allow that to fully unfold."

The Winnipeg Police Service did not bring the allegations to the RCMP, said Clunis, suggesting there was no reason to do so.

"The information I have at this point, no, that was not required at that point," Clunis said, insisting the allegations were "acted upon ourselves."

Clunis said he is "fully confident" the Winnipeg Police Service is capable of investigating allegations pertaining to the Winnipeg police headquarters without experiencing conflict of interest.

"We’re police officers. We certainly hold ourselves to the highest ethics and integrity. If information comes forward that needs to be investigated, we would investigate it fully," the chief said.

Mayor Brian Bowman said he wants to know whether the RCMP is merely reviewing the letter or engaged in a formal investigation of the allegations.

"If it’s true there have been under-the-table payments, it is appalling and perhaps it’s time that heads should roll," Bowman told reporters outside his office.

The mayor, elected on Oct. 22 along with seven other new council members, said it’s upsetting Winnipeg’s new council has to deal with "nonsense that we’ve inherited" from the previous city council.

"Winnipeggers expect a lot more and deserve more and it’s going to be up to this council and to your new mayor to do all we can to continue to build the confidence and the trust that Winnipeggers deserve to have in their city hall," said Bowman, referring to a trio of scathing external audits.

No city official has been censured or disciplined for the issues documented in the police headquarters, real estate and fire-paramedic station audits, which painted a picture of severe mismanagement of major construction projects at the highest levels of Winnipeg’s public service, numerous breaches of city policy, favouritism in the award of contracts and a failure to disclose crucial information to city councillors.

"There needs to be consequences," Bowman said. "The troubling thing for me, as a public citizen before I came here and even now, is I have not seen consequences for the actions that we feel were inappropriate."

Bowman said he campaigned on a platform of integrity and "if things are elevating to potential criminality" the city should consider "all options" with respect to staff who may be responsible.

The RCMP confirmed this week it is reviewing all the information it received from Manitoba Justice.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca