While London was sending off the London Knights Wednesday, Mayor Joe Fontana was fending off a lawsuit in a Milton courtroom.

Fontana had exhorted Londoners to join the cavalcade of fans to the airport where the Ontario Hockey League champions left for Saskatoon and the Memorial Cup, saying in a city-issued news release: “Let’s make this a send-off for the ages and show the Knights how much we love them.”

But Fontana missed the love and good community vibes as he faced a lawsuit brought by a former business associate who claims Fontana owes him nearly $100,000 from a failed Romanian energy deal several years ago.

This is the latest in a string of legal woes for the London mayor.

Fontana recently lost a legal challenge of the Canada Revenue Agency’s lifting of the charitable status of the charity for which he was chair.

And later this year, he faces a preliminary hearing into three criminal charges relating to federal funds used to pay for the wedding reception of his son back in 2005 when he was an MP.

Londoner Tony Bacsa is seeking damages and pay promised him by Fontana when the two worked on a bid to establish energy-from-waste plants in Romania between 2008 and 2009. He is claiming breach of contract against Fontana and partners Derk and Derek Matt, personally.

The lawsuit is in Milton because the Matts and their firm, GPEC Global Corp., are based in nearby Oakville.

“They promised me full employment and I’d take over the project in Romania,” Bacsa told Justice William Hourigan of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. He conceded he was paid for a time for his work but funds dried up.

Bacsa is a mechanical engineer who fled his native Romania in 1987. He was retained by Fontana to translate documents, introduce officials and find a way to adapt Canadian technology to convert biomass into electricity.

“They needed some expertise,” Bacsa said, so he spent much time in Romania pursuing opportunities there.

Fontana and the Maats watched Bacsa testify from front-row seats in the cavernous courtroom.

In 2008, Bacsa said he signed a consulting agreement with Fontana promising $8,000 a month in pay, plus expenses. He said he resigned in late November 2009 when he grew tired of Fontana’s empty promises of payment.

On three occasions, he said he showed Fontana around and introduced him to Romanian and local officials. In doing so, he said he paid for nearly all of Fontana’s expenses.

“He assured me I will be paid,” he said.

Fontana often visited Bacsa in his kitchen and told the engineer and his wife, Gabriela, a deal was coming together that would produce money he owed them.

“The money is coming,” he quoted Fontana as assuring his wife. “I’m going to make sure Tony gets paid for his work.”

Bacsa told his lawyer Thomas Granger he felt Fontana was sincere, or he would have quit sooner.

“I thought of a him as an old friend,” he said. “He was an important man in London.”

Bacsa said he finally contacted a lawyer to sue Fontana but the lawyer suddenly dropped the case shortly after filing a statement of claim. The Toronto lawyer advised he could no longer act because his law office had been burglarized and all files relating to the case had been taken.

Sometime after that, Fontana emailed Bacsa saying Bacsa “had the nerve” to sue him and Fontana would not forget this blow to their friendship.

Pressed by Fontana’s lawyer Alan Butcher of Hamilton why he missed the fine print in his consulting deal with Fontana and hadn’t hired a lawyer to review it before signing, Bacsa was succinct: “I signed the agreement because my friend presented it to me, Mr. Fontana. I didn’t have a lawyer in my kitchen.”

The trial resumes Thursday with the continued cross-examination of Bacsa. Fontana is expected to testify in the trial.

Chip.martin@sunmedia.ca

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