No Cops For Halifax Case

Police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have no plans to investigate a cash-for-concerts scandal that led to the resignation of the city’s chief administrative officer earlier this year.

Halifax’s auditor general recently released a report that explored how a now-defunct promoter was forwarded a secret $400,000 cash advance prior to a pair of concerts in July 2010 by then-CAO Wayne Anstey.

The report said Harold MacKay’s Power Promotional Events was given several large advances over the years, and that “groupthink” and the city’s “overwhelming desire” to host concerts led to a series of bad decisions by officials.

Despite the issues raised in the AG report, Halifax Constable Brian Palmeter told the city’s Chronicle Herald “there isn’t evidence to support” a criminal investigation. Regional councilors reportedly decided not to launch a further investigation after evaluating the audit and Palmeter said police agreed, deciding the information in the report didn’t qualify as a breach of trust under Canadian criminal code.

MacKay, who left the city on the hook for $359,550 after his shows suffered weak ticket sales, has insisted he lived up to his end of the contract.

He told CBC News he paid a $40,000 rental fee for the Commons where the concerts took place, plus hundreds more based on a formula for ticket sales.

“I lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on those shows myself personally and you know we were out of business on it,” he said. “But at the end of the day when the company ceased operations it owed the city of Halifax not one penny.”