Date of publication: 05 Apr 2022 • 4 hours ago • 2 minutes reading • 132 Comments Former Unifor National president Jerry Dias is being investigated by Toronto police. Photo by Cole Burston / Bloomberg
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Nearly two weeks after being accused of accepting $ 50,000 from a COVID-19 rapid test supplier in exchange for promoting kits to its members’ employers, the former head of Canada’s largest private-sector trade union is under police investigation.
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On Tuesday, Toronto police confirmed to the National Post that former Unifor president Jerry Dias, who resigned in early March, is now under investigation. TPS Spokesperson Const. Caroline de Kloet said in a statement that the investigation is being conducted by members of the city’s financial crime unit. “The investigation is in its preliminary stages and we will not comment on details at this time, so as not to jeopardize the investigation,” he said. Initially tweeted on February 16 that he was leaving temporarily due to health problems and less than a month before announcing his departure, the circumstances of Dias’ departure remained unclear until March 23. On that date, Unifor publicly accused him of accepting $ 50,000 from a COVID-19 rapid test vendor.
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During a press conference, Unifor’s Lana Payne claimed that test kits from the same vendor were being actively promoted for purchase to Dias’s employers’s union at the end of last year. Dias then reportedly approached an unidentified Unifor employee on January 20 and offered him $ 50,000, offering to share the money with him. The union started an internal investigation after the official complaint was submitted by the employee. Unifor declined to name the test supplier or which companies bought the kits. The union said it had asked Dias to take part in their investigation, but Dias said he refused to take part following his doctor’s advice. On Monday, Unifor issued a statement saying that they had handed over the money that Dias allegedly received to the police.
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“It is now up to the Toronto police to decide whether to investigate any matter related to this money,” the statement said. Shortly before the start of the Unifor press conference on March 23, Dias issued a statement saying that he was entering a medical center for substance abuse treatment after using “painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol” to cure a period of sciatica. “These factors have hurt my judgment in recent months and I owe it to our members to seek the treatment I need,” Diaz said in a statement. None of the charges against Dias have been proven, and no charges have been filed against him. Diaz, who rose through the ranks while working as an aircraft worker at the former Toronto de Havilland plant, was the first president of Unifor since the 2013 merger of the Communications, Energy and Paper Workers Union (CEP) and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). .) • Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @bryanpassifiume
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