

Chris Kitching, CP24.com





Mayor Rob Ford's office did not ask the city’s IT department to destroy electronic records belonging to any staff in his office, says City of Toronto spokesperson Jackie DeSouza.

DeSouza made the comment to CP24 on Wednesday in response to a Toronto Star report, which cites unnamed sources, that claims emails and telephone records belonging to three former Ford staffers were ordered destroyed this week.

After the report was published online, the city issued a statement saying it has bylaws and policies in place to ensure that city records pertaining to city business are not destroyed.

However, the mayor and other council members’ personal, political and constituency records are not covered by those rules, meaning they can manage those records as they see fit, the city said in a written statement.

Only city business is protected and preserved by the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, according to the city.

At a news conference about Wednesday’s flooding on the Don Valley Parkway, Ford refused to answer questions about the allegations in the Star report.

Sources told the newspaper that the people who were told to delete the records, which the Star says may contain discussions about an alleged video of the mayor, are balking at the order.

According to the newspaper, the records in question are held on a City Hall server and belonged to former aides Mark Towhey, George Christopoulos and Isaac Ransom.

Earlier this week, the Star reported that there were discussions within the mayor’s office about the possible whereabouts of an alleged video of Ford smoking from a glass pipe.

The reported discussions between David Price, the mayor’s director of operations and logistics, and Towhey, the mayor’s chief of staff at the time, resulted in Towhey notifying Toronto police and providing an interview to homicide investigators, the Star reported.

Staff Insp. Greg McLane, head of the homicide squad, previously told CP24 the interview was not linked to a recent homicide or any homicide.

McLane said homicide detectives did the interview because they have expertise that other officers don’t.

He said the interview is in relation to an ongoing investigation that is currently in the media, but he declined to identify the nature of the investigation.

The alleged video has not surfaced, and its authenticity has not been substantiated.

On his radio show last Sunday, Ford told a caller “there’s no video, so that’s all I can say. I can’t comment on something that doesn’t exist.”

The allegations first surfaced in reports by the U.S. gossip website Gawker and the Star on May 16.

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