Former mayor Sam Katz testifying at Winnipeg police headquarters inquiry
Posted on: Feb 12, 2026 21:00 IST | Posted by: Cbc
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Inquiry counsel Heather Leonoff begins by asking Katz about major projects that were completed when he was mayor.
She quickly moves to the police HQ project and then asks Katz about his relationship with Sheegl and their co-investment in land in Tartesso, Ariz.
Katz says he and Sheegl were co-investors in three properties.
Leonoff also asks about Katz's former shell company, Duddy Enterprises, which the former mayor once traded back and forth with Sheegl.
Sam Katz is in the hearing room. He smiled as he walked in and took a minute to say hello to reporters.
His voice is a little more gruff than when he was mayor and his hair is a little more white. But he still has a sense of humour. When Steve Lambert from The Canadian Press asked Katz if he will speak to reporters during a break, the former mayor said he is always up for a good scrum.
In February 2008, the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed it was looking at moving into a former Canada Post warehouse and office tower complex south of Graham Avenue. City council approved the purchase of the buildings and a renovation project valued at a combined $135 million in 2009.
The cost of the project rose several times until it was officially listed at $209 million. Post-construction work took the tab up to $214 million.
Cost overruns are only one issue.
The project has also been the subject of a 2014 project audit that found the construction contract was awarded to a company that did not submit a proposal for the work and a 2014 real estate audit that found the city did not look at any other place to house the new police HQ.
A five-year RCMP investigation into fraud, forgery and secret commissions concluded in 2019 without charges.
Then came two civil lawsuits from the city. One against contractor Caspian Construction was settled for a maximum of $28 million. The second, against former CAO Sheegl, resulted in the Court of King’s Bench’s determination Sheegl accepted a bribe from Babakhanians of Caspian.
Twenty years later, this story is still going — and it’s no longer about stone cladding.
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