John Nunziata doesn't expect that a police probe of allegations that he was offered a six-figure sum to drop out of Toronto's mayoralty race will lead to charges.
"I don't expect much to happen," Mr. Nunziata, whom recent polls see as running a distant fourth, said yesterday. "From my assessment of the law . . . offering someone money to withdraw from a campaign doesn't contravene the Municipal Elections Act or the Criminal Code."
The latest comments represent a major about-face by the candidate. On Oct. 22, he labelled the offer a "bribe" that, according to reports, had led him to go "ballistic" in a meeting.
York Regional Police have been investigating the matter since last Monday and plan to release their findings early this week.
Since Mr. Nunziata dropped the bombshell that he had been offered first $100,000 and then $150,000 to quit the heated contest, a cloud has hung over the election, which will be decided Nov. 10. The former federal MP has said that officials in his camp, whom he did not name, were approached several times in late September by unnamed people from rival John Tory's camp, but Mr. Tory and senior officials have emphatically denied any knowledge of financial inducements to Mr. Nunziata to leave the race.
Soon after Mr. Nunziata first raised the allegations of bribery, he met with police and turned over "names, phone numbers and whatever information they needed."
Over the weekend, one of Mr. Nunziata's supporters, Paul Pellegrini, released a statement after a Toronto newspaper implicated him in the affair. The newspaper reported that Mr. Pellegrini, a Toronto lobbyist, allegedly was the person who delivered a $100,000 offer from Mr. Tory's camp to Gino Naldini, Mr. Nunziata's chief fundraiser. Yesterday, the story was verified by a senior source within Mr. Nunziata's camp.
Mr. Pellegrini, president of Sussex Strategy Group, said last night he's looking forward to the police report being released so "that it will clear the air on this matter.
"I'm very confident that it will confirm that my involvement didn't contravene the Municipal Elections Act," he said. "I've given them [police]a really complete statement."
Mr. Pellegrini wouldn't elaborate because he's been told by police not to talk about the case. Last week, he was interviewed by York police for more than one hour.
Mr. Tory, one of the race's three front-runners, said he knows Mr. Pellegrini casually, but that Mr. Pellegrini has never been involved with his campaign.
"I'm hopeful that the police will complete their investigation as soon as possible," he said yesterday.