Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has filed a B.C. Supreme Court defamation suit against his former chief of staff and a real estate developer claiming the two alleged a cover-up about an alleged drinking and driving incident involving Sim.
The notice of civil claim, filed May 23 by lawyer David Church, alleges Kareem Allam, a political strategist who ran Sim’s election campaign, and Alexander George Tsakumis, spread unsubstantiated information about Sim being pulled over by Vancouver police, not being ticketed and using his office to cover up the information.
“The predominant purpose of the defendants . . . in publishing the Allam defamatory comments and the Tsakumis defamatory comments, was to expose, and did in fact expose, (Sim) to hatred, ridicule and contempt and to lower him in the estimation of others, particularly in his role as mayor of Vancouver,” the lawsuit said.
It called the defendants' alleged conduct, “malicious, highhanded, callous and arrogant.”
The lawsuit said the Vancouver Police Department made a report to the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner on Dec. 5, 2023 after a post by Tsakumis. It said an investigation was done by the RCMP of the VPD officers allegedly involved. The RCMP then reported their findings to the Abbotsford Police Department chief constable.
“The investigation revealed no objective evidence of an interaction between members of VPD and the plaintiff of the sort described in Mr. Tsakumis' social media post,” the claim said.
"The chief constable further concluded the matter to be baseless and that Mr. Tsakumis irresponsibly used the X.com platform to spread a rumour communicated to him by Mr. Alam,” the claim said.
The claim alleges that Allam, in November 2023, told Tsakumis that Sim had driven while intoxicated and had been stopped by VPD officers.
The suit further alleges Allam told Tsakumis police let Sim go without citing him for any offence.
“Mr. Alam made the statements to Mr. Tsakumis, with the intent that Mr. Tsakumis would publish the statements to others, including on the internet which publication did occur on X.com,” the claim said.
The claim said Tsakumis publishes on various social media sites including X, where he has numerous followers.
The claim further alleges Allam told Annie Fournier, a member of the A Better City party, that Allam had received a call from a person in the mayor’s office.
“The individual in the mayor's office and a VPD officer had "taken care of it," the claim said Allam said he was told.
“Mr. Allam further stated to Ms. Fournier that the ‘DUl was not the problem. It was the cover-up that was the problem,’” the claim said.
The lawsuit alleges all are defamatory statements.
The claim said the alleged statements were understood to mean Sim consumes alcohol to excess, that he drove while intoxicated on at least one occasion and that while supposedly intoxicated, was stopped by the VPD for driving under the influence, that the VPD officers let the plaintiff go, and that he suffered no consequences.
The notice of civil claim said the alleged statements were understood to mean Sim was able to avoid arrest and consequences of driving under the influence as a result of his position as mayor and his relationship with the VPD and the police union, and he is corrupt.
The claim said Tsakumis began posting comments about Sim on X on Nov. 23, 2023. Lodestar Media has opted not to repeat the allegedly defamatory comments.
“The Tsakumis defamatory comments were false and were defamatory of the plaintiff,” the claim said, noting the comments were republished anonymously in election flyers in March and April.
The lawsuit seeks general, aggravated and punitive damages.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Allam and Tsakumis did not respond to requests for comment.
