By Allison Martell
TORONTO, March 5 (Reuters) – Ontario authorities have agreed
to a request from Toronto’s police chief to supervise an
investigation that has already resulted in extortion charges
against an alleged drug dealer and associate of Toronto Mayor
Rob Ford, a probe the mayor contends is politically motivated.
Toronto Police have declined to say much about Ford’s role,
if any, in the case against his friend and occasional driver,
Sandro Lisi. But police documents released last fall showed that
the mayor, now running for re-election, had been under
surveillance for months.
Ford, who admitted in November that he had smoked crack
cocaine, probably while in a “drunken stupor,” has made
headlines around the world. He has become a household name in
circles that rarely take notice of Canadian politics, not to
mention a popular target for late-night television hosts.
His admission of drug use came days after Toronto Police
Chief Bill Blair said his force, during an earlier investigation
called Project Traveler, had obtained a video featuring the
mayor that was consistent with media reports about a video clip
showing Ford appearing to smoking crack.
Blair, who did not disclose the content of the video
obtained by police, said at the time he was disappointed by what
he saw.
News of the Ontario Provincial Police taking over
supervision of the latest investigation came in a Toronto Police
press release posted on Wednesday.
The provincial police’s commissioner, Chris Lewis, said such
a move was not unusual. He cited previous cases in which his
force has investigated municipal employees or senior police
officers.
Speaking to reporters, Lewis said Blair wished to “reassure
the public that he serves that things are being done properly,
and that there is no bias involved in this.”
“The damage has already been done,” Ford said to reporters
on Wednesday. “The chief obviously is just playing political
games.”
Blair has said Toronto Police launched the latest
investigation, Project Brazen Two, because the original probe
uncovered evidence of criminal activity that fell outside its
mandate.
Afterwards, Lisi, already charged with drug trafficking,
was also charged with extortion for actions police allege he
took to retrieve the video, which media blog Gawker and the
Toronto Star newspaper first described in May. They said it
showed Ford appearing to smoke crack.
The Toronto Star said in its initial story that a group of
men involved in the drug trade were trying to sell the video.
Ford, who has been stripped of many of his powers by
Toronto’s city council, has lashed out repeatedly at Blair,
calling the investigation a waste of money motivated by politics
“If he’s going to arrest me, arrest me,” he told reporters
last week.
(Editing by Frank McGurty and Jonathan Oatis)
