A developer involved in three Greenbelt removal requests testified that the premier’s longtime right-hand man never visited his home, but insiders’ messages show otherwise
Text messages from multiple Ford government insiders contradict the testimony of a developer central to the Greenbelt scandal about his relationship with one of the premier’s longest-serving and closest aides.
Rehmatullah’s and Massoudi’s interviews with Wake were under affirmation, the non-religious alternative to being under oath, according to a spokesperson for the commissioner’s office. Rehmatullah’s home in Markham isn’t far from the property his company owns that was briefly removed from the Greenbelt, along with other land he’s secured MZOs to develop.
The specifics of the texts referred to in this story — which The Trillium has authenticated — and the identities of those who sent them, along with those referred to anonymously have been kept confidential to ensure sources’ protection. Ford hosted the controversial $150-a-ticket stag-and-doe party that hundreds, including Rehmatullah and other developers, lobbyists, and Ford family friends attended on Aug. 11, 2022.
The Ford government unveiled its proposed Greenbelt land swap to the public on Nov. 4, 2022 and removed the properties a month later. In a pair of stories published last June and July, The Trillium reported that, according to sources, Rehmatullah, Rasheed, Massoudi, and Truesdell went on a Las Vegas trip together in early 2020.
A spokesperson for Rasheed, who Ford appointed to his cabinet in 2021, said in a statement on Sept. 19 that he’d “mistakenly” given the integrity commissioner’s office the wrong dates of the trip and had followed up with the correct dates — which Massoudi and Truesdell would each do via lawyers over the next few days.Ford held a news conference the next day, saying he was “very, very sorry” for taking land out of the Greenbelt and promised to return the properties to the protected area.
Wake’s report noted he asked both Rehmatullah and Massoudi in their second interviews why neither mentioned seeing each other in Las Vegas in their first round of questioning. “At his second interview, Mr. Massoudi explained he did not mention the brief encounter in the lobby of the Las Vegas hotel because it ‘didn’t come to mind.’”
Wake determined earlier this month that Sackville’s email did not affect the findings of his Greenbelt report. It passed another bill on the same day providing the government greater protection against the legal ramifications of revoking MZOs.
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