OPP assumes oversight of Project Brazen 2 investigation

Ontario provincial police have agreed to assume an oversight role in the Project Brazen 2 investigation at the request of Toronto police chief Bill Blair. But Mayor Rob Ford denounced the decision as too little too late.

Ford, who has repeatedly attacked the legitimacy of the probe and Blair, wasted little time in criticizing the move, which puts the OPP in charge but leaves city investigators on the case.

“The damage has already been done,” Ford said at city hall.

“The chief obviously is playing political games and it should have been done from the very beginning.”

Project Brazen 2 arose from the force’s year-long Project Traveller probe focusing on organized crime, violence, guns and drugs. It investigated Ford and his occasional driver Alexander Lisi, who faces extortion and drug trafficking charges.

The investigation and the seizure of the so-called crack video have also led to a very public feud between the mayor and the police chief.

“I am taking this step to avoid the distractions that have assumed such recent prominence,” Blair said Wednesday in a letter to OPP commissioner Chris Lewis. Lewis agreed to the request.

Lisi is out on bail after being arrested and charged in October with four drug offences, including trafficking marijuana. He’s also been charged with extortion in relation to the crack video. The allegations have not been tested in court.

Blair confirms video’s existence

Ford and Blair have had a spat in the press since the chief confirmed the existence of the video that appears to show the mayor smoking from a crack pipe.

Blair made the announcement on Oct. 31 2013, and since then, Ford has challenged him to release the video.

In a rambling and profanity-laced video taken at an Etobicoke restaurant last month, Ford called the chief a “c___sucker.”  The insult was captured on video at Steak Queen, where the mayor also swore in Jamaican patois.

Ford later said he did not owe Blair an apology.

On Feb. 27, Blair said he was “deeply offended” by that remark.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, Ford repeated his calls for Blair to release the video. He also challenged Blair to arrest him, and said that the investigation cost “millions” of taxpayers’ dollars.

The mayor said he was not concerned at the possibility of being charged.

“Charged for what? For an empty vodka bottle or urinating in a park,” Ford said Wednesday. “Which one?”

Veteran Toronto homicide investigator, Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux, will continue to lead the investigation, but will now answer to a senior provincial police officer rather than to senior city police officers.

The provincial inspector will have no direct involvement in the probe, but will be available for consultation or to offer advice, police said.

Lewis said the change is “semantics” but said the investigative team will no longer report up a chain in Toronto police, ultimately to Blair.

“That removes the whole senior management team of the Toronto police and the chief from any involvement — or perception of involvement — in any decision-making around this case,” Lewis said.

Blair wanted the public to be confident that there was no interference from the chief or other senior city officers, Lewis said, adding there was no indication any charges were imminent.

Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said, “We’re always very concerned that nothing is said or done that could have any impact on current or future court proceedings.”

“We’ll always err on the side of caution.”

More documents to be released

Meanwhile, a Toronto judge ruled Wednesday that more documents in the Project Brazen 2 investigation will be released on March 19.

The court will argue about more contested documents, such as cellphone records, on March 28.

With files from The Canadian Press