{"id":314,"date":"2014-04-03T21:08:59","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T21:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shillersllp.brandandmortar.com\/?p=314"},"modified":"2023-02-16T13:00:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T18:00:32","slug":"it-contractor-breaks-silence-on-gas-plant-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shillers.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/03\/it-contractor-breaks-silence-on-gas-plant-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"IT contractor breaks silence on gas plant allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″][vc_column_text]\n

Computer expert accused of wiping hard drives denies hiding from Ontario police<\/strong><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”12″][vc_column_text]View Article <\/span><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”12″][vc_column_text]By: Rob Ferguson Queen’s Park Bureau, Published on Thu Apr 03 2014
\nA computer expert with close Liberal ties who\u2019s accused by police of wiping computer hard drives in the premier\u2019s office is not \u201chiding\u201d from authorities and \u201chas done absolutely nothing wrong,\u201d his lawyer says.<\/p>\n

David Shiller \u2014 who represents Peter Faist, the boyfriend of ex-premier Dalton McGuinty\u2019s chief of staff, Laura Miller \u2014 on Wednesday broke days of silence on the Ontario Provincial Police claims.<\/p>\n

The OPP allegations have not been tested in court and no charges have been laid.
\n\u201cIt is regrettable that many derogatory and defamatory things have been said about Peter in the last few days by people who know little or nothing about the facts. This will come out clearly at the end of the day,\u201d Shiller said on behalf of Faist in a statement to the Star.<\/p>\n

It followed a threat from opposition MPPs for a rare Speaker\u2019s warrant forcing Faist to testify before the legislature\u2019s justice committee, which is probing the deletion of politically sensitive documents in the $1.1-billion scandal over gas-fired power plants scrapped before the 2011 election.<\/p>\n

Faist, whose contract to provide computer services to the Ontario Liberal Party was abruptly cancelled on Sunday, will consider testifying and has not been ducking attempts to reach him, Shiller said.<\/p>\n

A letter of invitation sent via courier by the justice committee clerk was to a Toronto condo where Faist no longer resides and where telephone service was cancelled, the lawyer added. He confirmed Star reports Faist has moved to British Columbia, where Miller is executive director of the B.C. Liberal Party. She has not been available for comment despite repeated attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis move was in the works for the last six months,\u201d Shiller said. \u201cThe suggestion that Peter is hiding from police or the Standing Committee on Justice Policy . . . is simply false.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiller told the Star in an interview that Faist learned through the media earlier this week that the committee was seeking him and arranged to have the letter requesting him to testify sent to Shiller\u2019s law office.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on Peter\u2019s initiative that contact was made with the committee,\u201d he told the Star. \u201cSomeone who\u2019s in hiding doesn\u2019t come out and make contact.\u201d
\nAs for the request to testify, \u201conce we see what the committee wants, we\u2019ll look at it,\u201d Shiller added.<\/p>\n

The OPP alleges in 111 pages of documents unsealed by the court last Thursday that Faist \u2014 who owns an IT company \u2014 wiped clean the computers of two staffers in McGuinty\u2019s office just days before Premier Kathleen Wynne took power Feb. 11, 2013.<\/p>\n

Police say the target of their investigation is former McGuinty chief of staff David Livingston, whom they allege obtained a special password for the computers and is suspected of a breach of trust for having a non-government employee do the wiping. Breach of trust carries a maximum penalty of five years.<\/p>\n

OPP have seized 24 hard drives, which are now undergoing forensic examination as part of their probe. Livingston, through his lawyer, has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Wynne was peppered with questions in the legislature Wednesday about what documents were deleted and why Faist\u2019s Liberal contract was suddenly scrapped.
\n\u201cThe best person to answer a lot of these questions would be Peter Faist,\u201d said Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is up to the Liberals, however, to come clean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wynne, whose government has turned Faist\u2019s invoices over to police and declined to comment on details, replied: \u201cI really believe that we should let the investigation unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath later asked Wynne: \u201cIf Mr. Faist was doing nothing wrong at all . . . why was he then suddenly fired this weekend?\u201d<\/p>\n

The police probe, which has interviewed a number of former McGuinty staff now working in the Wynne administration along with a wide range of civil servants, is being directed by Det.-Const. Andr\u00e9 Duval of the OPP anti-rackets squad.
\nHe is slated to testify before the justice committee Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

MacLeod said the Conservatives may call Wynne and McGuinty to testify before the committee once again given the new developments.<\/p>\n

The Tory MPP also called on provincial corporate chief information officer David Nicholl to \u201cstep aside\u201d over information in the OPP document alleging he approved the special computer password requested by Livingston despite concerns from cabinet secretary Peter Wallace.<\/p>\n

Nicholl and Wallace did not reply to requests for comment. Nicholl, who had been serving in an interim role as acting deputy minister of government services, now resumes the information officer post three weeks earlier than planned under changes announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Another senior civil servant, Greg Orencsak, takes over immediately as the deputy minister in Government Services. A Feb. 19 memo from Wallace had originally slated that move for April 22.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to have Mr. Orencsak start a few weeks early was made yesterday and confirmed by cabinet today,\u201d a cabinet office spokesperson said Wednesday.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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