The Calgary police confirmed Thursday that a member of the public first mentioned to them in November 2021 an alleged plot against former Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
LWC spoke with political ‘fixer’ David Wallace on Thursday morning as details continue to trickle out about the alleged plot involving Russian oligarchs and dark money that was first reported by Canadaland. Wallace contends he was paid by local interests to carry out Operation Peacock, as it was dubbed.
Wallace told LWC that he’d been in past contact with the Calgary police about the alleged plot.
“I went to the Calgary police in November of 2021 and gave a complete and full statement,” Wallace said.
In their statement to LWC, the Calgary police did not indicate Wallace as the person who mentioned the plot, nor did they say a full statement was made. They said a member of the public made an unrelated complaint to the Calgary Police Service at that time.
“In addition, the citizen made mention of the alleged plot against Mr. Nenshi,” read a CPS statement.
“This information was taken to the British Columbia Prosecution Service and was not supported for further investigation at the time.”
The CPS said that following their initial statement Thursday about investigating the alleged entrapment plot, they were “made aware of additional information pertaining to the case.”
Once the information resurfaced this week, the CPS said they made the decision to reach out to Mr. Nenshi to obtain a statement.
“Investigators are in the process of reaching out to Mr. Nenshi to obtain a formal statement to initiate an investigation,” the original CPS statement read.
Chu acknowledges Wallace meeting
Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu posted a statement to social media around midnight on Wed/Thursday regarding his role in the affair. A letter, signed by both Chu and then-fellow councillor, Joe Magliocca, was posted to social media earlier Wednesday.
Chu said that he knew nothing of the alleged conspiracy against former Mayor Nenshi until he read the media reports. He did acknowledge the letter and meeting Wallace in October 2019. He said Wallace represented himself as an investment facilitator.
“With Calgary being in an economic slump at the time, I believed any large-scale investment should be encouraged,” Chu’s post read.
“After the letter was sent, nothing was communicated back. I have had no further communication with Mr. Wallace since then.”
Wallace was familiar with Chu’s statement and refuted some of it when we spoke to him Thursday. LWC won’t report on those allegations prior to verifying specific details.
Chu said he was very concerned the letter was the precursor to an alleged trap for the former mayor. He said though they disagreed on many things, Nenshi’s character was “unimpeachable.”
“I am relieved it failed,” he wrote.
Wallace said the city could have gained, had the plan been deployed correctly. It could have been above board, too.
“I believe the mayor’s office would have vetted all these channels and we would have had an opportunity to have legitimate bilateral trade,” Wallace said.
“Now would (the alleged perpetrators) have gotten the corruption they wanted? No, but it still would have been good for the city.”
