OPP charge third person in alleged $11M COVID fraud

Man said to have worked with couple in alleged theft of relief funds

Ontario Provincial Police have charged a third person in connection with the alleged theft of $11 million in provincial COVID-19 relief aid.

Vidhan Singh, 54, of Toronto, was charged Tuesday with money laundering, fraud, and possession of stolen property after a year-long investigation.

Singh’s arrest followed charges laid Sunday against a married Toronto couple fired last year as computer managers at Queen’s Park.

Police charged Sanjay Madan, 56, with two counts of fraud and two counts of breach of trust. He and spouse, Shalini Madan, 52, were also charged with laundering the proceeds of crime and possession of stolen property.

“The allegations were taken very seriously given the nature of them. This investigation has been extremely complicated,” OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Sean Chatland said Wednesday.

Chatland, who led the probe for the force’s anti-rackets branch, said he was “incredibly proud of the hard work that both my team and the supporting members of the OPP put into in this investigation.”

Brian Heller, Singh’s lawyer, declined to comment on Wednesday.

Singh and the Madans — as well as their adult sons, Chinmaya and Ujjawal Madan — have been in civil court since last fall over the alleged theft. The sons have not been charged criminally and they deny any involvement.

Details of the criminal case are protected by a publication ban.

In separate Ontario Superior Court civil filings, the province alleges that “some or all of” the Madans and Singh funneled millions to thousands to TD, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Tangerine, and India’s ICICI accounts in spring 2020.

The province’s allegations against the Madans and Singh have not been proven in civil court. The criminal allegations have also not been proven.

Sanjay Madan was fired last October as the $176,608-a-year information technology leader on the Ministry of Education’s Support for Families program.

That fund gave Ontario parents $200 per child under age 12 and $250 per child and youth under 21 with special needs to offset online educational expenses early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

In civil court testimony, which may not be used in the criminal action if it violates Charter-protected rights against self-incrimination, Sanjay Madan has said he “relaxed” computer security so more payouts could be made to the same bank accounts.

Under oath on Jan. 8, he testified Support for Families was “a free-flowing program.”

“There were a lot of possible applications coming in because people … discovered that there were a lot of loopholes,” Sanjay Madan said in civil court proceedings.

“I thought there may be an opportunity to take the funds out … it looked like easy money for me.”

Shalini Madan, who is in the process of separating from her husband, was sacked last fall from her $132,513-a-year Ministry of Government and Consumer Services computer manager job.

She has denied any involvement in the alleged $11-million theft and is now suing the province for wrongful dismissal.

Queen’s Park has a court injunction freezing $28 million in Madan family assets in Canada and India, including $12.4 million in Indian bank accounts, an $8 million Waterloo apartment complex, a seven-bedroom house in North York valued at $2.57 million, and six Toronto condominiums valued at about $3 million.

In the civil case, the government alleges Sanjay Madan was the “ringleader” of a sophisticated scheme that allegedly stole $30 million over the decade preceding the pandemic.

“It’s not just the fraud with respect to the Support for Families program, but also kickbacks with respect to the engagement of fee-for-services consultants,” Crown lawyer Christopher Wayland told civil court last month.

Wayland alleged Sanjay Madan and Vidhan Singh ran a consulting business that hired computer contractors and paid “secret commissions” to preferred vendors.

Singh has denied that allegation.

The Madans and Singh are out on bail and will next appear in criminal court in November.

Support for Families has since been expanded and renamed the Ontario COVID-19 Child Benefit.

It now pays out $400 for each child or youth up to Grade 12 and $500 for each child or youth up to age 21 with special needs.

Premier Doug Ford has said security provisions have been enhanced on the program.