Bribe allegation in $5.1M suit is false, Shindico vice-president testifies

The vice-president of Winnipeg commercial real estate firm Shindico testified in court Tuesday an allegation his company bribed a former City of Winnipeg official is false.

On the seventh day of a trial in a civil lawsuit launched by former Shindico broker John Pearson,Shindicoexecutive vice-president Robert Shindlemantold ManitobaCourt of King's Bench Justice Sadie Bond an allegation Pearson raisedin court on Oct. 23is false.

Shindleman made the brief comment during cross-examination by Simon Bieber, a lawyer for Pearson, whois suing Robert and his brother, Shindico president and CEOSandy Shindleman,for $5.1 million over the dissolution in 2022of several decades-long business relationships.

The trialbegan on Oct. 21. In court, Pearson has attempted to demonstrate he andthe Shindleman brothershad a partnershipthat required unanimous agreement by all three parties before major decisions were made. The Shindlemansare trying to demonstrate no such agreement existed.

Testimony of this nature most of it involving the details ofownership and oversight of specific properties has made up the bulk of the trial to date.

Pearson has also arguedhe chose to end his association with the Shindlemansin 2022 partly because of negative media attention and allegations the Shindlemans"were alleged to beinvolved in political corruption," according to Pearson's statement of claim.

The Shindlemans denied those claims, both in court andin a statement of defence.

"There's been a lot of wrong things written," Robert Shindlemantold the courtTuesday.

On Oct. 23,the third day of thetrial, Pearson testifiedhe's seen documents indicating Sandy Shindleman paid an $85,000 bribe to former senior public servantPhil Sheegl related to the construction of a fire-paramedic station in Winnipeg.

"It's documented in the productions that you provided,to his company FSSFinancialSupport Services of $85,000 related to the Sage Creek fire hall," Pearson testified, citingdocumentsprovided by the Shindlemans during the discovery process prior to the trial.

"It was in documents as early as 2009 and still showed on the books, according to your productions, as late as 2023 without being repaid."

The allegation has not been proven in court. Legal counsel for the Shindlemans did not immediately comment. Sheegl, who served as Winnipeg's deputy CAO in 2009,did not respond to requests for comment by CBC News.

On Oct. 24, lawyer Bieber attempted to enter into evidence the documents Pearson testified about.

Jason Kendall, a lawyer for the Shindlemans, objected on the basis what Pearson learned in2023 or 2024 through the discovery process is not germane to a decision he made in 2022 to end his business partnership with the brothers.

Justice Bond agreed and denied Bieber's request to enter the documents into evidence.

The trial is slated to continue through the end of the week. Closing arguments are slated for January.