Crown wants former SISO exec back behind bars

Morteza Jafarpour was paroled more than four years ago after being sentenced to two years behind bars

THE CROWN HAS APPEALED the sentence of the former CEO of the now-defunct Settlement and Immigration Services Organization who was convicted of conspiracy and massive fraud — and has already served his time in prison.

Morteza Jafarpour, who had a spectacular fall from grace as an once-respected community leader, was paroled more than four years ago after being sentenced to two years behind bars. However, in an unusual case that went before the Court of Appeal for Ontario earlier this month, the Crown Law Office in Toronto is asking to put Jafarpour back behind bars.

In its factum filed with the court, the Crown wrote: “Despite the general reluctance to re-incarcerate an offender who has served the original sentence, it is respectfully submitted that reincarceration is appropriate here, because the original sentences imposed were so far below what was warranted that the interests of justice require intervention.”

The Crown argued that Justice James Ramsay erred in September 2013 by giving Jafarpour such a light sentence when a jury convicted him of seven counts of uttering forged documents, fraud over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Jafarpour and SISO finance manager Ahmed Salama, who was convicted of the same charges, defrauded

“Ordinarily, a fraud on the government of this magnitude would merit a penitentiary sentence in the range of three to five years, and possibly higher.” CROWN FACTUM

the federal government of $2.9 million over three years. About 80 per cent of SISO’s funding came from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

SISO, a non-profit, went bankrupt in January 2011 as a result, leaving 155 employees without jobs and thousands of refugees and immigrants in Hamilton without settlement assistance.

The sentencing appeal was originally filed in October 2013, but has taken until now to be heard. The court has reserved its decision.

The sentence imposed by Justice Ramsay was “manifestly unfit” and “ordinarily, a fraud on the government of this magnitude would merit a penitentiary sentence in the range of three to five years, and possibly higher,” says the Crown factum.

The “magnitude and duration of the fraud,” the fact it was “an abuse of public funds intended for the delivery of public services,” that it was “committed through a non-profit organization” and that Jafarpour and Salama tried to cover it up by misleading auditors are aggravating factors that should call for a tougher sentence, the Crown argued.

Salama was sentenced to one day imprisonment after being credited for 18 months pre-sentence custody. He no longer lives in Canada, according to the Crown, and so his sentence is not being appealed.

Meanwhile Jafarpour, who according to his Twitter account now lives in Orleans, Ont., is also appealing his conviction. The factum for his appeal is sealed because it contains allegedly new information related to the fraud.

Attempts to reach Jafarpour for this column were unsuccessful.

The demise of SISO was a huge scandal that began when a whistleblower showed up at the Mountain police station on a Saturday afternoon in 2010 with two hard drives belonging to Jafarpour. The whistleblower said he’d been ordered by Jafarpour and Salama to alter cheques, payroll stubs and bank statements to cover the fact they had been scamming the government for years.

The scheme was to overbill CIC with phoney expenditures, false cheques and invoices and a bogus payroll. The funds were forwarded to an affiliated organization called the SISO Foundation, which used the money to buy two buildings. The fraud spanned from January 2006 to October 2010.

Justice Ramsay concluded that Salama, who was pocketing an extra $1,000 each week, was motivated by greed. Jafarpour, on the other hand, was propelled by “empire building.”

Entangled in the mess was another SISO employee, former administrator Nese Burgas. She pleaded guilty to stealing at least $160,000 from the organization, using it to pay for private school for her children and a backyard swimming pool, among other things. Court heard she helped create false documents for Jafarpour and Salama. She was sentenced to nine months in jail.

The services once provided by SISO have since been taken up by various other agencies in Hamilton. But the implosion of the once-lauded organization intended to give newcomers hope left many of its staff and clients with a feeling of utter betrayal.