Rob Ford claims cops spent $2 million investigating him

TORONTO - Mayor Rob Ford claims Toronto Police have spent almost $2 million investigating him and his crack cocaine scandal is now “water under the bridge.”

Ford made the estimate on the cost of Project Brazen 2 — an investigation launched when news of his crack video first broke — in an interview with Lorne Honickman on AM640 on Thursday as he talked about the previous night’s televised mayoral candidates debate.

“I thought I did very well,” Ford told Honickman when asked about his debate performance.

“Obviously, we go through the film, it is just like a football game — you play a good game but you can always play better.”

Asked if he was surprised none of the other candidates mentioned his crack cocaine use and that it didn’t come up until a reporter asked about it, Ford shrugged.

“They can mention that until the cows come home,” he said. “That’s water under the bridge. People are sick and tired of listening to this over and over and over again.

“What they really want to know is how much did the police spend on investigating this? This must be, they keep going on, going down to San Diego, going here and there, they must be close to $2 million.”

Police have never revealed the cost of the investigation and refused again on Thursday.

“We don’t comment on ongoing criminal investigations,” Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said.

An investigator did travel last month to California — to Cupertino not San Diego — to gain access to Alexander “Sandro” Lisi’s iPhone data. Lisi, Ford’s friend and occasional driver, is charged with extortion in connection with the crack video.

According to an information to obtain a search warrant released by the courts this week, the iPhone contains nine to 10 gigabytes of data and police are looking for evidence of extortion.

“I believe that the data on it will further the investigation and potentially include or exclude other parties as participants or persons of interest in the extortion of (Liban Siyad) for the video featuring (Ford) smoking what appears to be a narcotic,” police state.

On the radio Thursday, the mayor argued he’s focused on the issues and believes people “tune it out” when his crack scandal comes up.

“I’m not perfect, I’ve made mistakes, I’ve owned up to it,” he said.

“Let’s move on … we’re moving on, the past is the past and you’re going to see in the next six months my performance.”
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