When former councillor Jim Karygiannis found his 2018 campaign finances under the microscope in June 2019, he set to work raising a legal fund.

According to documents filed with Toronto’s elections office Oct. 26, Karygiannis raised a total of $102,200 from more than 100 people, after toronto.com and the Scarborough Mirror reported details of his election finances the previous year and Toronto elector Adam Chaleff requested and was granted a compliance audit of those expenses.

When Karygiannis re-filed his documents in such a way as to deal with issues that Chaleff had raised, Toronto’s clerk found that one of those changes — this was moving a $26,000 dinner from the category of fundraising to volunteer appreciation — put him in immediate violation of the Municipal Elections Act. He was removed from office.

Now, Chaleff is arguing that Karygiannis may be in further violation, for raising that $102,200 in the way he did.

“That should never have been done, because his campaign should have ended well before that, because he had a surplus of funds in his accounts,” said Chaleff. “He would only be permitted to continue fundraising if he had a deficit.”

Under the Municipal Elections Act, a campaign is considered closed for the purposes of election fundraising on Dec. 31 of the election year.

If a campaign is in arrears, the fundraising can continue to make it whole, and fundraising may continue until June 30 of the following year (July 2), to pay for any legal bills in a contested election or a compliance audit.

According to Toronto spokesperson Brad Ross, Karygiannis is entitled to reopen his campaign for the purposes of fundraising for legal fees to cover a compliance audit, and he notified Toronto’s clerk that he would do so June 7, three days after Chaleff’s request was filed.

“The Municipal Elections Act provides that, if a candidate is involved in a compliance audit, they can reopen their campaign to accept contributions to cover compliance audit expenses as long as it is within the supplementary reporting period. The supplementary reporting period ended on July 2, 2019 (section 88.24(1) (5)). Mr. Karygiannis reopened his campaign under this provision and therefore was required to file a supplementary financial statement,” wrote Ross.

However, Chaleff and his lawyer Stephen Aylward say that the rules are more complex.

“The city’s interpretation is incorrect,” Chaleff said in a written statement. “Section 88.24(5) states quite clearly that the campaign period remains open until the earlier of two relevant dates: a.) The date on which campaign surplus plus additional contributions equals campaign deficit plus expenses incurred on the campaign audit, or b.) July 2, 2019.”

So, if a campaign has a surplus, Chaleff said, that must be exhausted by legal expenses before any fundraising can occur.

Karygiannis reported a surplus of more than $27,000 in his initial filing.

As of Oct. 26, 2019, Karygiannis reported just $25,000 in legal expenses.

Chaleff and his lawyer have written to the city to inform them of the violation.

The matter won’t affect Karygiannis’ dismissal, which he has said he will appeal.

But Chaleff said it should be a matter of investigation in the compliance audit, which will go forward if Karygiannis’ appeal to stop the audit fails.

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Reached by phone Nov. 7, Karygiannis answered “no comment,” about his legal fundraising activities.

Karygiannis’ lawyer Michael Binetti did not respond to an email request for comment.