Jim Karygiannis, who lost his council seat over his 2018 campaign expenses, has asked the Superior Court to return him to office.In an application filed Tuesday that names the city and clerk Ulli Watkiss, Karygiannis claims a financial filing was “inadvertently” modified by his forensic accountant. That filing showed Karygiannis had overspent a strict campaign limit by nearly $26,000. Under the Municipal Elections Act, overspending the limit is punished by immediate removal from office. In announcing the ouster last week, Watkiss said she had no discretion in responding to the overspending.Karygiannis is now asking the court for relief from the forfeiture of the Ward 22 (Scarborough-Agincourt) office he was re-elected to.The violation of the act, which Karygiannis says stems from an error in his paperwork, centres on a $27,000 dinner Karygiannis claimed as an expense that is said in his original financial statement to have taken place two months after the election, in December 2018.Receipts and invoices for that dinner as well as that original filing indicated it was a fundraiser at a Thornhill restaurant, for which 2,000 invitations and other materials were requested; 50 meals were ordered along with Greek wine, and $11,300 was invoiced by Campaign Support, a company run by pollster Nick Kouvalis, for “fundraising event services.”The original statement came under scrutiny after the Scarborough Mirror and toronto.com reporter David Nickle reported on the extraordinary expenses and also contributions raised as detailed in Karygiannis’s March filing.That led to a request this June from elector Adam Chaleff for the city-appointed compliance audit committee to examine the councillor’s expenses, including the dinner. After an audit was ordered, Karygiannis appealed the decision.He was also allowed to reopen his campaign post-election in order to raise funds to pay for his legal expenses related to the inquiry. That also meant he ha ...
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