Ontario recovers $11M in missing funds
COVID-19 relief money was allegedly embezzled by provincial employees
The Ontario government has recovered more than $11 million in COVID-19 relief funds that were allegedly stolen, the Star has learned.
As first disclosed two months ago, the money was allegedly embezzled from the $378-million Support for Families program launched by Premier Doug Ford early in the pandemic.
In documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court, the province alleges “some or all of ” Sanjay Madan, his spouse, Shalini Madan — who have both been terminated as government computer specialists — their adult sons, Chinmaya and Ujjawal Madan, and associate Vidhan Singh perpetrated “a massive fraud” to funnel about $11 million in payments to hundreds of TD and Bank of Montreal accounts.
The government’s allegations have not been proven in court.
But Sanjay Madan’s lawyer confirmed Friday what insiders have told the Star: The missing cash has been returned to provincial coffers.
“The Crown has been made whole. Mr. Madan has co-operated in that process,” lawyer Christopher Du Vernet said in an interview.
“He is as anxious as the Crown to ensure that the province is made whole,” said Du Vernet. “He deeply regrets his actions, but is awaiting the results of medical opinions on his condition.”
A source close to the family has confided that “Sanjay has had mental health issues for at least a decade and he is taking medication for that.”
An official privy to the case, who spoke confidentially in order to discuss a matter that is before the courts, said “taxpayers should be assured the money has been recouped” with the co-operation of the banks.
“I know there were concerns, but the funds have been safely secured,” the insider said.
The Support for Families program paid parents $200 per child under the age of 12 and $250 per child or youth with special needs under the age of 21 to defray the costs of at-home learning early in the pandemic.
Sanjay Madan, who was fired in November from his $176,608-a-year Ministry of Education job, was the information technology leader on the program’s computer application.
There are seven detectives from the Ontario Provincial Police’s anti-rackets branch investigating, but no criminal charges have been laid.
The more than $11 million retrieved does not include millions of dollars in cash and real estate holdings belonging to the Madan family that are now frozen by a government court injunction.
That applies to a 30-unit Waterloo student housing apartment complex recently listed for sale for $8 million, a sevenbedroom house in North York, six Toronto condominiums, and more than $1 million in profits from the sale of a fourbedroom house.
Court documents say Sanjay Madan — who holds Canadian and Indian passports and has permanent residency status in the tax haven of Panama, which has no extradition treaty with Canada — flew to India last summer with “tens of thousands of dollars in cash.”
The government’s legal action says 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.”
In 2013, he purchased two villas in Hyderabad, India.
A company he registered in Panama called Newgen Ventures Inc., is listed as an owner of the Waterloo apartment complex.
Sanjay Madan has been seeking access to his assets in order to cover his mounting legal bills, but the court injunction remains in place until next Friday and could be extended.
The provincial government opposes lifting it because it says “there is a significant risk that the cash consists of proceeds of crime,” court documents say.
According to the legal filings, Madan tearfully told colleagues his spouse, who was sacked from her $132,513-a-year position as a Ministry of Government and Consumer Services manager last fall, and their sons, who resigned earlier from lower-level information technology jobs at Queen’s Park, “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,” wrote Marie Dearlove, executive assistant to Madan’s then boss Soussan Tabari, the Ministry of Education’s chief information officer, in a memo to human resources last summer.
The ongoing probe of the missing COVID-19 funds is also looking at unnamed information technology contractors and subcontractors linked to Madan and associate Vidhan Singh that have done work for the government.