Companies tied to Berardino Quinto, co-owner of Orca Equity, are in the process of building a new subdivision near the land in Whitchurch-Stouffville that was removed from the Greenbelt. (Patrick Morrell/CBC News)
Rehmatullah denied that anyone connected to the government tipped him off and he denied being in contact with Amato about his land, per the report. He said it is just the “normal course of business” for his consultants to make removal requests and that the 2022 request was simply following up on a previous request he made in 2017.
“I find that Mr. Rehmatullah’s position strains credulity,” Wake wrote in the report.
“On the evidence, I am unable to make a definitive finding as to what or who prompted Mr. Rehmatullah in the fall of 2022 to take the steps he did to request that his small piece of land and the land of two of his fellow members of a landowners group be removed from the Greenbelt. But I find it is more likely than not that someone did.”
Since the Flato lands were removed from the Greenbelt in December, property records show Flato Developments subdivided the larger property and sold 29.5 hectares to Torca UMV Inc. for $62 million in April — more than four times the $15 million the company originally paid for the land in 2017. Property records also show Flato Developments transferred the remaining land to a company run by Weixiang Wang, chairman of Wyview Group, for $2. The sales were first reported by the Toronto Star.
Local councillor calls for public inquiry
The integrity commissioner found Ford was “kept in the dark” by Amato about the selection process, and that he learned which sites would be removed for the first time on Nov. 2, 2022, shortly before cabinet met to discuss it.
“The integrity commissioner clearly stated in his report that the premier, and the premier’s office, had no involvement in the process or of specific site selection,” said Caitlin Clark, a spokesperson for premier.
Markham city councillor Karen Rea said the integrity commissioner’s report has created a perception that those involved, particularly Rehmatullah, have not been “forthright” with their answers.
“I don’t understand why it took a second interview for that information to come out,” she said.
Rea is calling for a public inquiry to cut through the “speculation and accusations.”
“I think if we have a public inquiry that will, you know, lay out what happened, who knew what or or … who didn’t know what, maybe then we can all move on from this,” she said.