A Halifax businessman has been charged with trying to hire someone to kill his business partner.
Tantallon RCMP received a complaint Monday about a possible murder attempt on a 46-year-old man from Beaver Bank.
Investigators arrested 69-year-old Brian Kenneth Penney in connection with the case Thursday. He is charged with counselling to commit murder.
“The two men were known to each other through business,” confirms RCMP Cpl. Scott MacRae.
“Police allege that between April 1 and July 31 of this year, on several occasions, Mr. Penney wanted to hire someone to murder a 46-year-old man from Beaver Bank.”
Penney is an investor in more than 50 companies and is the CEO of several more.
His business partner and alleged victim, Barry Pincock, says they were building two homes together in Lower Sackville, N.S
“He seemed to be a pretty reputable guy. It’s not something you see coming,” says Pincock.
He says they teamed up in December 2011 but that their partnership began to fracture 15 months later.
Pincock says he started digging into Penney’s past and told him he planned to sue him for money he says is owed to him by Penney.
He says a police officer showed up at his door earlier this week and told him someone was trying to kill him.
“I was pretty concerned. Now that he’s arrested, I don’t feel too concerned."
However, Penney walked out of a Halifax courtroom Friday after putting up $130,000 to secure his release.
“I lie awake thinking about it all night,” says Pincock’s fiancée, Nicole Slaunwhite. “I have a board up to my door, a chair up to my siding door.”
Bill Mont says he also partnered with Penney on a business venture but he had a very different experience.
“I’m very surprised, quite frankly. What I know of him and what I’ve seen on the Internet, different ventures he’s been in, I can’t say nothing but good words for him,” says Mont.
Penney will be on house arrest until his next court appearance at the end of September.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell
