Jack Hundial, former Surrey councillor now running for a seat with the federal Conservatives, has issued a public apology to local developer Bob Cheema as part of an out-of-course defamation settlement.
Jack Hundial, the former Surrey councillor running for a seat with the federal Conservatives, has apologized to local Bob Cheema as part of an out-of-court settlement in a defamation lawsuit.
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The lawsuit was over comments made by Hundial about Cheema at a 2019 council meeting, which Hundial now describes as false.
“My statements represent a grave slur on his personal and professional integrity and have caused him and his family considerable distress and embarrassment,” said the letter from Hundial, which was provided to the news media by Cheema.
“I now accept my error in publishing the statements and recognize the considerable damage they have done to Mr. Cheema.”
Hundial goes on to say he “unreservedly” apologized to Cheema and would “fully withdraw and retract, without reservation, the prior statements published about him.”
The letter said Hundial will pay Cheema “a substantial sum by way of damages and in settlement of his legal costs.”
Hundial’s 2019 comments questioned Cheema’s involvement in a meeting between Surrey’s then-mayor, Doug McCallum, and Mike Farnworth, then B.C.’s public safety minister.
The meeting came during the fight over the decision to move away from the Surrey RCMP and to establish the municipal Surrey Police Service.
The lawsuit was filed a month after the comments were made, with Cheema alleging that Hundial’s questions implied something “unethical” was at play.
Both Farnworth and McCallum had said later that Cheema did not attend the meeting and just assisted in arranging for the two to meet.