Province wants bureaucrat’s assets kept frozen

Computer specialist was fired after an alleged $11M COVID-19 fraud

The Ontario government opposes lifting an injunction that froze the assets of the bureaucrat fired after an alleged $11million COVID-19 fraud because “there is a significant risk that the cash consists of proceeds of crime,” according to internal emails filed in court.

Sanjay Madan, a computer specialist terminated in November from his $176,608-ayear Ministry of Education job, has had millions of dollars in cash and real estate holdings frozen for months.

Madan has been seeking access to his assets in order to cover his legal bills, but the court injunction remains in place until Jan. 29 and could be extended.

In documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court, the province alleges last spring “some or all of” Madan, his spouse, Shalini, their adult sons, Chinmaya and Ujjawal, and Madan’s associate Vidhan Singh perpetrated “a massive fraud” to funnel $11 million in payments to hundreds of TD and Bank of Montreal accounts.

The government’s allegations have not been proven in court.

According to the court filings, Madan tearfully told colleagues that his wife, who was let go from her $132,513-a-year job as a Ministry of Government and Consumer Services manager last fall, and their sons, who resigned last summer from their lower-level government IT jobs, “have absolutely nothing to do with this.”

“He advised that his family is devastated by this and due to his (redacted health information) he is a bit slow to respond and asked for patience,” Marie Dearlove, executive assistant to Madan’s boss Soussan Tabari, the Ministry of Education’s chief information officer, wrote in a memo to human resources last summer.

A source close to the family told the Star that “Sanjay has had mental-health issues for at least a decade and he is taking medication for that.”

The confidant, speaking on background in order to discuss internal deliberations, says Shalini, Chinmaya, and Ujjawal were blindsided by the government’s civil action and the accusations against the family patriarch.

Seven detectives from the Ontario Provincial Police’s antirackets branch are investigating. No criminal charges have been laid.

As first revealed by the Star, the probe is examining IT contractors and subcontractors linked to Madan and his associate that have done work for the government. Investigators are focusing on some unidentified firms that routinely received contracts for major government computer projects.

In a Dec. 9 email to Madan’s lawyer, Christopher Du Vernet, Crown counsel Christopher Wayland explained why the government opposes allowing any access to his “international funds,” including cash in Indian bank accounts.

“The cash appears to have been withdrawn from a bank account or bank accounts into which very significant funds were deposited in the spring and summer of 2020, contemporaneously with the alleged fraud,” Wayland wrote.

“There is a significant risk that the cash consists of proceeds of crime. The cash is certainly evidence,” the Crown added.

“As such, you are on notice that it is our position that, in addition to whatever effect the various court orders may have on this cash, your client is prohibited from dealing with it in any way. He is legally obliged to preserve this cash, fully intact.”

In September, Madan — who holds Canadian and Indian passports as well as permanent residency status in Panama — flew to India with “tens of thousands of dollars in cash,” court documents say.

The government alleges he also “gave large bundles of cash to Indian relatives who were visiting Canada in September … and had them carry that cash back to India with them.”

“The circumstances and timing of these enormous cash withdrawals and subsequent cash runs to India lead to only one reasonable inference: That Madan was shipping money offshore so as to avoid detection and seizure of same,” the province alleged.

Investigators searching his office after he was terminated found “an image of a permanent resident card and driver’s license for the Republic of Panama for Sanjay Madan in Sanjay Madan’s government email account,” the court documents say.

Madan registered a company in Panama called Newgen Ventures Inc., which is an owner of three properties in Waterloo, including a 30-unit student housing apartment complex recently listed for sale for about $8 million.

The government’s injunction freezing his assets also applies to a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom house in North York, six Toronto condominiums, and more than $1 million in profits from the September sale of a four-bedroom, four-bathroom house.

“There is a significant risk that the cash consists of proceeds of crime,” according to internal emails filed in court