City Hall

Well, it looks as though Wanda Liczyk is in trouble after all — the teeniest tiniest bit of trouble, if the charges levelled against her by the Institute of Chartered Accountants
of Ontario are to be the end of it for Toronto’s former treasurer.

Liczyk, one of the key players in the MFP computer leasing scandal that necessitated a full public inquiry, was formally charged today by the body overseeing her profession as a chartered accountant, in three areas — none of them, related to her behaviour surrounding the computer leasing deal that swelled from $43 million to $80.5 million without the knowledge of Toronto Council.

Rather, the institute has charged her in connection with the somewhat seamier, secondary matter of the related external contracts inquiry: her relationship with Michael Saunders, a married computer consultant who Liczyk hired, and hired again, to create first North York’s and then Toronto’s tax collection system. The charges indicate that Liczyk “knew or ought to have known” she was compromised in dealing with Saunders (when we say relationship, it was, of course, that kind of relationship). Also, that she signed those contracts without proper authority.

Well. All of this filled me with the kind of nostalgia that can only be quenched by going back through the many, many over-long stories I filed from the Bellamy Inquiry about Liczyk. Like this one, from the final day of Liczyk’s testimony on the MFP deal (it appeared November 22, 2002: Continue reading…

One of David Miller’s big regrets of the previous term, he says, was the failure to get the city’s lobbyist registry passed by council and in place. It is now — at 11:51 a.m. — one of my biggest regrets too. The new team — er, Executive Committee — is as I write this, boring the stuffing out of the entire municipal/political/newsmedia machinery here at City Hall, arguing about who should and should not have to sign in as lobbyists when they come talk to councillors.

Actually, they’re not arguing yet. Many of them are still trying to figure out the difference between an 83-year-old retired office manager who would like to have the garbage men stop flinging the green bin willy-nilly into his award-winning roses on collection day, and a $500-an-hour government relations consultant who directs funding to campaigns across the city, and would like council to give Haliburton the exclusive contract for municipal water management.

They told us that the level of debate would improve in the new term. Perhaps that will come later today, when the Media Protocol comes up. That’s the one which would ask news media to stop calling Scarborough Scarborough when crime happens there, but keep calling Scarborough Scarborough when… I don’t know… happy things happen.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’d sure sign on — as long as I get to pick what I call the Former City Formerly Known As Scarborough during bad times.

I’m thinking Cleveland.

… or at least they will, January 25.

That’s the date that Wanda Liczyk, the former Toronto treasurer who captivated us all with her star turn on the MFP inquiry witness stand, will be hauled in front of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario’s Discipline Committee. We know little beyond this (and, of course, what we might glean from the reams of testimony in the MFP computer leasing inquiry), but that should change January 25.

Liczyk, who presided over the contract to lease computers from MFP in the late 1990s, that ballooned from $43 million to more than $80.5 million without council’s knowledge, initially got a pretty easy ride from the institute. With barely a nod in the direction of Madam Justice Denise Bellamy’s explosive report, the discipline committee deemed there was no reason to subject Liczyk to another examination - or, you know, discipline.

To recap the evidence. Liczyk, who was Toronto’s treasurer in the early years of amalgamation - and North York’s city manager and treasurer prior - developed a close relationship with Dash Domi, a salesman with MFP Financial Services. He found her a hairstylist, took her late-night phone calls and once accompanied her on a private jet junket to a hockey game. All this was in the service of closing the complicated computer leasing deal that cost Toronto taxpayers so much.

And in an unrelated matter (also the subject of the inquiry), Liczyk admitted to having a romantic affair with a computer consultant, Michael Saunders, who she hired (and kept hiring) to design both North York’s and Toronto’s tax collection system.

Weighing all that, the committee decided, no need for a hearing. Nothing to see here.
That went over about as well as you’d expect, and in July, the professional body decided to take another look. You know, to see if they’d missed something.

Well, they must have. Because the ICAO’s Discipline Committee will be meeting Jan. 25, for what is called an Assignment Hearing. That will set a date for the final disciplinary hearing - and, according to the institute, make public exactly what charges Liczyk will have to answer.

I’ll keep you posted.