A provincial judge has returned Jim Karygiannis to his seat on Toronto City Council following an appeal.
“I’ve been advised by my legal team that I should be able to return to work tomorrow,” Karygiannis told CP24 in an interview Monday evening.
He added that he wanted to thank his constituents for “their unwavering support.”
The city clerk removed Karygiannis from his role as councillor for Ward 22 Scarborough-Agincourt on Nov. 6 following a review of his campaign expenses.
Karygiannis said at the time that the issues with his campaign expenses stemmed from a clerical error.
He maintained that position on Monday.
“I maintain that I followed the rules and regulations to the best of my ability,” Karygiannis said.
Earlier this month, City Clerk Ulli Watkiss said that she had no choice but to remove Karygiannis after finding that he overspent on his 2018 campaign by nearly $26,000.
Watkiss said that the Municipal Elections Act left no wiggle room for her to do anything but remove Karygiannis from office.
In the ruling Monday, Justice Chalmers said that he found Karygiannis “acted in good faith” with respect to disclosing a post-election party at Santorini Grill in Thornhill.
“The amount spent was disclosed. The information with respect to the event was also disclosed in the supplementary financial statement albeit in a different section. I find there was no attempt to hide the expense,” Chalmers wrote.
The judge agreed that the error on the supplementary financial statement that resulted in the city clerk’s finding was made inadvertently.
However the decision does not mean that Karygiannis, who still faces a compliance audit, has been vindicated vis-a-vis his campaign expenses. The judge rendered no decision as to whether the party at Santorini Grill should have qualified as a fundraising expense.
“This order does not affect the ongoing compliance audit, or the committee’s discretion to determine whether to commence legal proceedings against Mr. Karygiannis following receipt of the auditor’s report,” Justice Chalmers wrote.
In a statement, the city said it is expecting Karygiannis to be at tomorrow’s city council meeting in light of the decision.
“Based on today’s ruling, arrangements are being made to allow Mr. Karygiannis to attend city council’s regularly scheduled meeting tomorrow Nov. 26, as the councillor for Ward 22,” the statement read.
Karygiannis has been a city councillor since 2014.
[If you are reading on our app, click here to view the full decision]
