When Gurpreet Dhillon threatened a $5M lawsuit against the City after his accuser withdrew sexual assault allegations, Brampton officials went quiet

In March of last year, former councillor Gurpreet Dhillon threatened to sue the City of Brampton for $5 million. 

After being accused of sexual misconduct during a trade mission to Turkey in 2019, the woman who made the allegations withdrew them in October of 2023. Dhillon demanded the City apologize for the fallout caused by the reaction of council members who stripped his pay for 90 days and suspended him on the recommendation of Brampton’s integrity commissioner, Muneeza Sheikh.

Mayor Patrick Brown, who repeatedly accused Dhillon, one of the mayor’s loudest critics on council, of sexual misconduct, had even publicly claimed that “hush money” was being paid to individuals to not talk about the allegations against the now former councillor. Brown was accused in 2018 of rape by one young woman and of attempted rape by another young woman. He denies the allegations, which still stand. While claiming his own innocence, Brown relentlessly accused Dhillon of sexual misconduct, even though he denied the allegations from the beginning and the police never even questioned him about the matter, according to Dhillon. Peel Police confirmed that no charges were ever brought forward. His accuser eventually withdrew all her allegations. 

The former councillor was defeated in the 2022 election following a widespread public awareness campaign that was organized ahead of the vote by a group of residents focused on the now-withdrawn allegations. 

The details of why the allegations were withdrawn have not been made public. 

Brampton residents were only made aware that Dhillon was cleared by his one-time accuser after The Pointer obtained an internal memo in April last year written by the City’s head solicitor at the time, Sameer Akhtar, to members of council outlining the withdrawn allegations and Dhillon’s demand for a full apology. 

Akhtar’s bombshell message raised a series of questions.

He only informed Brown and the rest of council in April of 2024 that Dhillon’s lawyer had been in communication with the City starting in October of 2023, regarding the withdrawn allegations.

“In late October 2023, my office received an email from a lawyer representing Mr. Dhillon, to which was attached a letter from… stating that she was ‘withdrawing’ sexual misconduct allegations she made against Mr. Dhillon in 2019-2020,” Akhtar wrote in the April 4, 2024 message to all members of council. The name of the woman was included in Akhtar’s memo; The Pointer has not published it. 

Akhtar informed council members that, following the October, 2023 email from Dhillon’s lawyer, a month later, in November the same year, Akhtar’s office received another letter from a lawyer representing Dhillon notifying Brampton officials that “public statements” were to be made by the City acknowledging the woman’s withdrawal of her allegations and requesting all reports regarding Dhillon’s case be expunged from the City of Brampton’s records.

Then, on March 14, 2024, following months of inaction by the City, Akhtar’s office received a letter from one of Dhillon’s lawyers again asking that all public records and other documents regarding his case be expunged; and a draft lawsuit against the City seeking $5 million in damages on behalf of Dhillon was also received. 

In his memo to council members, Akhtar said it was Sheikh, the City’s integrity commissioner, who wrote the report published by the City in 2020 in which Sheikh dismissed Dhillon’s denials of the allegations and sided with the woman who had accused him of sexual assault, recommending that council members hand down the maximum penalty to Dhillon under the Municipal Act, for violating the City’s Code of Conduct, a 90-day suspension and loss of pay for that period. Dhillon had repeatedly told The Pointer he was never interviewed by police. Peel Police confirmed that no charges were ever pursued. 

Akhtar told council members Dhillon’s requests are a matter for the integrity commissioner, not the City. 

Since last year, City officials have failed to explain what happened with the $5 million lawsuit Dhillon threatened against the City of Brampton. 

Former councillor Gurpreet Dhillon denied the now-withdrawn sexual misconduct allegations made against him from the beginning.

(The Pointer files)

The Pointer attempted to contact current council members including Brown for an update. Brown did not respond. Councillor Martin Medeiros said, “I have no updates at this time.”

Former councillor Jeff Bowman, who took a strong stand on the matter, voting for Dhillon’s suspension and loss of pay on the recommendation of Sheikh, now wants to know what is happening.

"I was one of the councillors who voted for sanctions against councillor Dhillon based on the integrity commissioner's report, and I think that as taxpayers, and as one of the elected representatives who had to deal with this case, that we need to know what is going on."

Bowman said he is concerned that taxpayers might be at risk due to the threatened $5 million lawsuit. It is unclear if the City has since dealt with the legal threat by Dhillon. Officials have refused to answer questions sent by The Pointer. Brown, who was Dhillon’s loudest public accuser, has refused to answer questions about whether he will publicly issue a full formal apology.

Bowman, who was one of a majority group of council members last term that called for sweeping investigations into widespread allegations of wrongdoing against Brown (which the mayor eventually cancelled), is not surprised that he refuses to address the former allegations against Dhillon which were withdrawn.

"Now that I'm outside council, now I know what it looked like to everyone else under this mayor. The transparency simply is not there anymore".

Bowman had gone to Queen’s Park last term to advise the provincial government against giving Brown strong mayor powers, and now another former councillor is worried the lack of information about Dhillon’s case stems from the mayor’s tight control over City Hall.

“As a taxpayer in Brampton, and for council members representing taxpayers, it’s alarming that we’re not being transparently updated about former councillor Dhillon’s case and his threatened legal action against the City of Brampton which could cost us millions of dollars,” Elaine Moore said.

“This was a high profile controversy that played out right in City Hall. Are you not telling us what’s happening because you don’t want us to know the truth, or because you think we don’t care?”

“This is a very dangerous pattern under our current mayor—we learn about how our tax dollars are used, and often abused, after the fact. Where are the reports, where are the public debates, where are the master plans? Nowhere. We are not told anything. How many other lawsuits are there? How many of the people who have left City Hall have also sued us, and I mean the taxpayers?”

“The mayor isn’t even telling his council colleagues, who are supposed to be the voice of their constituents, the ones elected to protect us. Do they even know what is going on with this mayor? I am confident that his super mayor powers don’t extend to keeping information from his councillors and the tax paying public”.

In 2022, when Brown was campaigning in that year’s municipal election after being disqualified from the federal Conservative Party leadership race, he made it clear that he did not want his council opponents to return and alleged that “hush money” was paid by the City to prevent the allegations against Dhillon from being discussed publicly. The City’s head solicitor at the time, Diana Soos, sent a message to all members of council informing them that no such payments had been made. But that did not stop Brown from making the claim shortly after her communication, during a campaign-style event at City Hall. 

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has refused to answer questions about his statements regarding since-withdrawn sexual assault allegations against former councillor Gurpreet Dhillon.

(The Pointer files)

Since then, despite Dhillon’s request for a full apology, nothing has been issued, and the report from integrity commissioner Muneeza Sheikh, claiming Dhillon was guilty of the allegations against him, remains accessible through the City of Brampton’s website. 

While it appears his requests for an apology and the removal of the reports against him have not been fulfilled, there is no record of Dhillon having filed a lawsuit in court. 

Dhillon declined to comment when contacted by The Pointer. 

The Pointer reached out to Fredrick Schumann and Nader R. Hasan, partners at Stockwoods LLP, the firm that previously represented Dhillon during Sheikh’s 2020 investigation. Despite multiple calls and email inquiries asking whether Mr. Dhillon is currently pursuing the threatened legal action and whether either partner continues to represent him, the firm did not respond. Mr. Schumann initially answered a phone call and stated he would follow up with his team. However, during a second call, he refused to answer any questions.

The Pointer followed up. He offered the same response as previously, saying, “I am not able to respond.”

Brown has not responded to requests for comment from The Pointer. 

He was involved in the scandal from the beginning. 

The woman who accused Dhillon of assault contacted Brown following the 2019 trade mission to Turkey. She asked Brown for assistance, according to what the mayor told Sheikh, and whether Brown could connect her with the Chief of Police. Brown said he could, and also contacted Sheikh, the City’s integrity commissioner. Brown and Sheikh have been widely criticized since he oversaw her hiring despite the close connection they had with each other previously, and despite her lack of any previous experience as an integrity commissioner or in municipal law. 

One of the investigations into the mayor's conduct, which Brown eventually cancelled after Bowman and other councillors voted for the probes in 2022, specifically dealt with Sheikh's hiring, after members found out about their past connections, and that she had billed taxpayers seven times more than the City's previous integrity commissioners.

The majority group of councillors who voted for the sweeping investigations into Brown's conduct eventually fired Sheikh in 2022. She then threatened to sue them before Brown had her rehired after the 2022 municipal election when most of his former opponents were no longer on council.

Despite numerous requests, Brown has not answered The Pointer’s questions about why he became personally involved in Dhillon’s case after learning about the alleged sexual assault, choosing to meet in person with the woman after she contacted him, instead of instructing her to go directly to the police. He has not provided any explanations about why he personally discussed alleged criminal conduct with the woman, instead of immediately directing her to the police.

The Pointer asked Mayor Brown if he stands by his past public attacks against Dhillon, accusing him of sexual misconduct, despite never being charged, and whether he believes it is appropriate to offer a public apology to Mr. Dhillon for any reputational harm caused by his remarks.

The Pointer also asked Sheikh if she stands by the findings she argued in her 2020 report, if she will offer Dhillon an official apology and whether she supports an independent inquiry into the entire matter.

They did not respond.

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