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Premier Doug Ford faced new questions Tuesday about former minister Kaleed Rasheed’s winter 2020 trip to the desert gambling hot spot with Ford’s former principal secretary, Amin Massoudi, and Jae Truesdell, who resigned last week as the premier’s director of housing policy.

As detailed in a report by integrity commissioner J. David Wake, the trio gave incorrect dates for the journey under oath and maintained their encounter there with developer Shakir Rehmatullah — who in years to follow attended Ford’s daughter’s wedding and had property removed from the Greenbelt — was by chance.

But they all had massages booked in the spa of a posh hotel at the same time on Feb. 1 of that year, CTV reported last week. Rasheed resigned as minister of public and business service delivery the next day and quit the PC caucus to sit as an Independent MPP.

“Should the people of Ontario accept that government policy was being decided on a massage table in Vegas?” NDP Leader Marit Stiles asked Ford in the legislature’s daily question period.

“Can the premier explain how three different people could mistakenly give the wrong date for the same trip?” Stiles added, pointing to other details in the Wake report about discrepancies over who paid how much for the trip with cash transfers.

“Their Vegas story is not adding up … the premier’s former minister paid $4,550 in cash for three flights to Vegas, but no one could provide clear proof just how, when or if the balance for the trip was repaid in full.”

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra insisted the integrity commissioner is looking into the discrepancies over the dates and amounts with “additional information” provided by Rasheed.

But spokesperson Michelle Renaud from Wake’s office told the Star “the commissioner has not received a request (under the Members’ Integrity Act) on this matter.”

Stiles said the New Democrats are preparing a request.

Wake’s initial investigation sparked the resignation of Steve Clark as minister of municipal affairs and housing on Labour Day, forcing Ford into the first of two cabinet shuffles this month.

The probe found Rehmatullah was “more likely than not” tipped to the government’s plans to open up the Greenbelt for housing — making any lands far more valuable — but was not able to ascertain who gave the word.

Ford bristled at the suggestions from Stiles and did not directly answer another question on whether he believes “any of his ministers or staff” may have given inside information to the developer.

“It was very clear that the integrity commissioner cleared myself and cleared my office,” said the premier, who last Thursday scrapped his plan to remove 7,400 acres from the protected Greenbelt zone and apologized for the way the debacle was handled.

“The auditor general cleared myself and cleared my office,” Ford continued in reference to an Aug. 9 report from Bonnie Lysyk that found the process to select lands to be removed from the Greenbelt “favoured certain developers” but concluded Clark’s chief of staff Ryan Amato — who resigned Aug. 22 — personally selected 14 of 15 parcels, bypassing advice from neutral civil servants.

Stiles called that a “selective interpretation” of the reports.

“There’s plenty in there that raises questions and, frankly, points to the premier’s office’s involvement in some of the conversations and decisions that were made about these lands,” she told reporters later.

“It’s pretty clear that the government doesn’t want to provide answers or get to the bottom of what’s taking place.”

In his report, Wake said the “fanciful connection” between Rehmatullah and Ford is “not sufficient” to conclude the premier tipped the developer.

“Mr. Rehmatullah has a number of contacts in and out of government who may have been aware of the government’s potential change in policy relating to the Greenbelt,” he wrote.

Following a referral from the Ontario Provincial Police to avoid any potential conflicts of interest, the RCMP’s sensitive and international investigations unit is determining whether to investigate “irregularities” in regard to the Greenbelt land swap, but has not returned repeated calls from the Star.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: