Crown not seeking charges in alleged bribery plot against former Calgary mayor

Editor’s Note: The original headline of this story suggested charges had been dropped. Charges were never laid in connection with the investigation.

Crown prosecutors won’t be prosecuting charges connected to an alleged entrapment scheme involving Calgary’s former mayor.

Calgary police said upon concluding the investigation, they consulted with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) and determined charges will not be laid.

“The ACPS reviewed the available evidence and determined that it did not meet the prosecution standard,” ACPS said in a statement.

The alleged plot, first reported by Canadaland, had a political fixer try to manufacture a scandal around the former mayor by trying to record him taking illicit money from Russian officials. “Operation Peacock” as it was known was purportedly funded by Calgarians who travel in conservative political circles.

At the time police started its investigation, David Wallace, a political ‘fixer,’ said he was asked to “expose supposed corruption against mayor Nenshi and many members of the council.”

“I basically tried to get the mayor and these councillors who were identified to bite on a kickback scheme,” Wallace said in November 2022. “There was nobody biting.”