Sean Chu told aide to use personal phone to avoid records

Court documents filed in a Calgary Police corruption investigation reveal former councillor Sean Chu directed a developer consultant to conduct conversations on his personal phone, citing Freedom of Information concerns.

Det. Matt White, leading the investigation, describes text messages in which Chu told David White, a planning consultant guiding developer Oldstreet through a land-use bylaw amendment, to "keep conversations to his personal phone" because his work phone was "subject to Freedom of Information" disclosure.

The investigation centres on a July 16 council vote on a proposed Bankview development that initially ended in a tie. Chu then tabled a reconsideration motion and changed his vote, allowing the project to pass 8-5.

Court documents allege David White had been offered campaign donations exceeding the maximum allowed in exchange for securing the reconsideration motion. Police say they recovered text messages on White's phone that "yielded evidence of the offences" being investigated.

Four cellphones seized during the investigation remain inaccessible to police, including devices belonging to Chu, former mayor Jyoti Gondek, and Oldstreet co-founder Nathan Robb. Calgary Police Service requested Justice Allan Fradsham allow investigators to keep the phones for an additional nine months, hoping technology will evolve to unlock them.

No one has been charged. Gondek's lawyer suggested police may never crack the passcode, and that investigators are "relying on hope" rather than evidence. None of the allegations in the affidavits have been proven in court.