"Who among you has seen the actual unsigned original contract between the City of Greensboro and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM) upon which a $750,000 check was issued and cashed?
More importantly: Was the notary seal copied and pasted or was it stamped to the original document?"
Yesterday, at the Facebook group, Real Progress For Greensboro: Greensboro City Councilman, Tony Wilkins finally answered the questions-- sort of:
" Billy, the original media reports stated that all council members were given a copy of that contract after I requested it. And the notary issue has been explained many times. You're probably not getting responses to your questions because they were answered two weeks ago. That would be my guess, for what that's worth."
So that tells us without a doubt that #1 the contract was unsigned, #2 the notary seal was stamped, not somehow photocopied or copied and pasted and #3 S Mujeeb Shah-Khan was the only person responsible for this?
All from a copy and not the original? Not so fast. Can you look at a copy and be sure the notary seal was stamped and not copied? After all, Mayor Vaughan did write that the page upon which the notary seal is found had been copied.
I made 2 comments back to Mr Wilkins:
"Tony, I asked had you seen the ORIGINAL Contract, yes or no? Why are you avoiding me?"
And
"I mean seriously, it takes you two weeks to tell me that?"
I'm waiting to hear more.
This is important because the photocopying or copying and pasting of a notary seal is a Felony in North Carolina. If the seal was copied then this implicates more than just S Mujeeb Shah-Khan, who as a fully licensed and practicing attorney, could have used his own notary seal.
As a matter of fact, the fact that the contract was notarized by Skip Alston implies that the contract was not notarized inside the offices of the City of Greensboro where numerous notary publics work every day. Is it normal for city contracts to be taken outside of City Hall to be notarized? Do most cities do business this way?
And if City Council members aren't willing to come clean concerning this issue then it's time to ask one more question: Has a 3rd party investigation been called for and if not, when?
In all fairness, the new interim City Attorney may be advising Council not to answer my questions pending an investigation but it sure would be nice for a change if the citizens of Greensboro weren't again being left in the dark. You know, in the interest of openness and transparency.
