Calgary tycoon shot in Rolls-Royce
Riaz Mamdani survives to talk to investigators
Calgary tycoon Riaz Mamdani, who heads a real estate company that claims $1 billion in assets, was in critical condition but still able to speak with police Monday after he was shot multiple times as he sat in a black Rolls-Royce outside his home in one of Calgary’s most expensive residential neighbourhoods.
Calgary police said the shooting was targeted.
Mamdani was identified as the victim by his firm, Strategic Group, but not by police.
He was in the driver’s seat of the running Rolls outside his house — a 9,000-squarefoot mansion built in 1912 by survivors of the Titanic disaster — with an unidentified passenger when several shots were fired into the car shortly after 8 a.m.
He jammed down on the accelerator, likely trying to escape, propelling the car forward and colliding with a barricade along the 2200 block of 7 Street S.W., badly damaging the distinctive chrome grille.
Three bullet holes could be seen in the windshield.
No one else was injured in the attack, police said. Investigators would not say what relationship the passenger had to Mamdani, or provide their age or gender.
He was taken to hospital and placed under police guard.
By Monday afternoon, despite injuries described as “very serious,” he was able to speak with investigators.
Strategic Group said their chief executive officer was “the victim of an apparent attempted robbery.”
Police agreed it was “targeted” but didn’t narrow it so finely.
“We think that the shooter definitely knew where he was and who he was going after,” said Staff Sgt. Travis Baker of Calgary Police. “It does, from our standpoint, look very specific.
“We’ll certainly explore all avenues — business, if this is business-related, we would certainly be exploring those things. We’ll be looking at all kinds of motives.”
Two clues could suggest forethought or experience by the possible perpetrator.
Police said the only description of the suspect is of a male wearing a bright orange jacket. Several times recently, orange constructionstyle vests have been worn by gunmen in targeted hits, worn in the hope they will be mistaken for road crews or construction workers and giving them a reason to be in the area.
Another clue is the possible connection to a vehicle fire some 14 blocks away and five minutes after the shooting. Gangland shooters typically burn the car they use to destroy evidence, such as hair, fingerprints or documents, left inside.
“It is certainly suspicious that there is a vehicle fire a short distance away,” said Baker of a small, white SUV that was burned. “There’s a strong suspicion they may be connected.
“It would be a very valid way to destroy evidence, absolutely. That doesn’t mean it’s connected to this shooting.”
Mamdani came to Canada from Uganda with his family as refugees in 1973 when he was a small child, he told reporters last year when he was offering to help in the resettlement of Syrian refugees to Calgary.
He received a pharmacy degree and a law degree before focusing on business. His wealth gives him the opportunity to share, as he has in philanthropic ventures, but also created disputes.
A search of court records shows more than three dozen lawsuits involving Mamdani have been filed since 1993.
He is named as a defendant in two class-action lawsuits, one of which claims $10 million in damages, and another in which investors claim they lost $200 million, which was certified last year.
The $10-million claim, filed in June 2014, alleges Mamdani was involved in an investment deal in which investors in Alberta, Ontario and B.C., agreed to purchase a parcel of land through two Platinum Lands corporations.
Their claim states the investors raised $6.4 million to fund the purchases from SSAM Land Corp.
However, it says SSAM, for which Mamdani was the directing mind, claimed the transaction was never closed because it had only received $5.7 million from the Platinum companies, controlled by defendant Shariff Chandran.
“At all relevant times, Mr. Chandran and Mr. Mamdani were close and long-term business partners in the real estate business in Alberta,” it says.
The lawsuit alleges the two parties conspired to collect the investors’ money “and then … wrongfully take the investor funds for their own personal benefit.”
In the certified class action lawsuit individuals, including Mamdani, and companies associated with the Platinum Group have been sued over allegations of misused investments.
About 2,200 investors lost an estimated $200 million buying limited partnership units or trust units that invested in commercial real estate entities that operated and were heavily marketed in print and on radio and television between 2002 and 2012.