“I find the I.C. report to be unbiased, professional and extremely detailed. I am happy that there is no basis whatsoever to any of the frivolous accusations,” he said in an emailed statement. “As a result of that comment, I will be registering under the city's Lobby Registry to avoid any future complications to either the Councillors, Mayor and the City staff.

Councillors Vicente and Santos sat on the Brampton Focus board of directors before stepping down to run for council. Vicente was a founding director and was still listed in official provincial documents as an active director as of July 2019 — long after he and Santos claimed to have stepped down.

However, Brampton Focus said it was a clerical error and provided evidence which satisfied Sheikh that both Vicente and Santos did resign when they said in December 2017.

“Overall, I do not find that Councillor Vicente and Councillor Santos profited or sought an unfair benefit in participating in the vote to fund Brampton Focus, since they did not have a pecuniary interest in same (direct or indirect),” she added in her report.

Requests for comment to both Vicente and Santos were not answered by the time of this publication.

Marshall, the complainant, said he was satisfied with the report and thanked Sheikh for her diligence in looking into the matter.

“Clearly this was not an open and shut complaint. As I understand, Madam Commissioner has ruled that an entity that had involvement in my complaint acted improperly in that they didn't register as lobbyists,” said Marshall in an email statement.

“I think, because there was a relationship with people that preexisted, nobody even thought that they were lobbyists. But when they were going for city money and they were doing a clear sales job on Council — they were. They had crossed that line. And council allowed it. I don't believe there was nefarious intent on the part of anyone. It was just that a group of friends all convinced themselves this would be a good idea,” he added.

Sheikh’s findings, publicly available in council's Feb. 26 agenda, will be presented to council at its regular meeting on Feb. 26.

“Overall, I find that City Council needs to be more vigilant in encouraging adherence to the Lobbyist Registry By-law, especially given that the Lobbyist Registry By-law requires Council and City staff to advise lobbyists of registry requirements,” she concluded.

A request for comment to the mayor was declined. Brown's office said he would reserve public comment until after the report is presented to council on Feb. 26.