Guergis touted firm linked to husband

by Kevin Donovan Toronto Star April 16 2010
Helena Guergis touted a green technology company to Simcoe County officials while her husband Rahim Jaffer and businessman Nazim Gillani were involved in a plan to take the firm public in a $1 billion deal. Guergis wrote a letter last September to the top municipal politician of Simcoe County, Tony Guergis, suggesting he and council take a good look at a company called Wright Tech Systems. Tony is Helena’s cousin and at the time was the senior municipal official in Simcoe. “I feel it is my responsibility to encourage you to consider this presentation about alternative waste management technology,” Guergis wrote on her member of Parliament letterhead. Cabinet ministers and MPs are forbidden from using their position to influence a person or organization to benefit their interest or that of relatives or friends, according to the federal Conflict of Interest Act.
Neither Jaffer nor Guergis would comment on this story.
At the time she wrote the letter, Guergis was minister of state (status of women). Her riding includes Simcoe County, which is struggling with the problem of what to do with its garbage. Wright Tech Systems has technology it says can go a long way to solving municipal garbage woes by turning organic material into “biofuel.” The sales arm of the company is Green Rite Solutions.
The day after Guergis sent that letter, her husband and Gillani were at a boozy dinner at Harbour 60 restaurant discussing Wright Tech’s business plan. A Gillani document obtained by the Star estimates the company, if taken public, would “have a proposed value of in excess (of) $1 billion.”
Gillani sent an email the next day to associates boasting that Jaffer, a former Conservative MP with political connections, would be able to help with “the Green rite project.” The firm, founded by Jim Wright, is a real company with credible technology. Gillani had heard about the company a month before the dinner. He approached Wright.
“(Gillani) came in with a pitch. I didn’t care for him, he was a little unprofessional,” said Wright. “But Gillani was going to do it, he was going to take our company public. He introduced me to Jaffer.” Wright recalls discussions with Jaffer and Gillani about “government grants, green grants” that would help his company. On one occasion, Wright was taken to La Castille Steak House and a meeting where Jaffer told various businessmen he could assist them in getting government grants.
“I liked Rahim, he was a casual guy,” said Wright. Also in the mix was Patrick Glemaud, Jaffer’s business partner in their venture, Green Power Generation. “Patrick seemed knowledgeable,” Wright said. Wright said he never gave Gillani, Jaffer or Glemaud money, and they never gave him any. Discussions went on for about a month. At one point, Jaffer hooked Wright up with a contact at the Canadian Federation of Municipalities.
Meanwhile, Wright was trying to grow his business and one of his target areas was Simcoe County. Frustrated that his unique “bio-dryer” technology was not being taken seriously in his own backyard (he’s had success in the U.S.), he was reaching out to local politicians. He had tried unsuccessfully to get an audience with Simcoe councillors.
Wright, who does not live in the riding but has a cottage there, approached Helena Guergis, the local MP. He contacted her office, and very quickly she wrote the Sept. 9 letter to her cousin, Tony, the warden of Simcoe County.
Did Jaffer and Guergis know he was dealing with each of them?
“Of course they (Helena and Rahim) knew I was talking to both of them. If I am talking to the husband does that mean I can’t talk to the wife?” Wright said in an interview. Before the letter was sent, Wright said Helena Guergis “gave me a few minutes of her time.”
Tony Guergis, no longer the warden as of December, said he never personally opened his mail, but he checked with staff and learned his cousin’s letter was received for “information only” and “no action” was taken. A municipal official confirmed this to the Star.
Tony Guergis did not answer questions about the propriety of his cousin sending such a letter. He did say that it is completely normal for politicians to send these letters, and receiving it and filing it is what happens to a great deal of them.
“It is a respectful way of acknowledging any communication from any constituent or interested party without dealing with it in any substantive way, ” he said. Ultimately, the Green Rite deal went nowhere. Wright sent Gillani packing when he learned Gillani was intent on taking over the company he spent 20 years building. Internal Gillani documents show as of Sept. 3, 2009, Gillani projected he would have “one-quarter equity” in the deal. Later, Wright heard from Gillani that he wanted 40 per cent. “Gillani was always moving the ball. I am an Irishman. Nobody controls my business,” said Wright.
Wright was left with a bad taste in his mouth, no new business, and still dearly wants to solve the garbage problem.
“The world is being overrun by garbage, landfills are running out of space,” his company’s 2009 business plan states. He points to the successful use of one of his systems at the Vancouver Olympics and one at Disney World in Florida.
“What I say to these municipalities is we can do it. We can take all of your organics and produce energy and I will spend my money to do it. But they are not listening,” Wright said. As to Gillani’s plan to raise money to help his company grow, Wright is pleased he saw through it. “These type of guys are dishonest as hell.” And, no, Jim Wright never went to Club Paradise, a Toronto strip club, as many Gillani associates did.
“I’m a Christian,” Wright said. “I think he knew better than to ask me.”
Letter from MP Helena Guergis to Warden Tony Guergis