Ontario claims $75M stolen in ‘kickback schemes’ run by alleged ringleader of COVID-19 fraud

The Ontario government is alleging that as much as $75 million in taxpayers’ money was stolen as part of elaborate “kickback schemes” in the awarding of computer contracts.

In a dramatic expansion of the province’s civil case against the ex-bureaucrat accused in the alleged $11 million theft of COVID-19 relief funds, the Crown claims at least nine others are involved in a separate “conspiracy” dating back more than a decade.

“The plaintiff (the Ontario government) paid out approximately $40 million pursuant to FFSCs (fee-for-service contracts) resulting from the kickback schemes. The secret commissions totalled approximately $35 million,” government lawyers say in Ontario Superior Court civil filings.

“As a result of the conspiracy, the plaintiff suffered damages in the amount of $75 million,” the submission says.

That is over and above the $11 million allegedly taken from the Support for Families program, which 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 pandemic.

In court filings on that matter, the government alleges Sanjay Madan, spouse Shalini Madan, their adult sons Chinmaya and Ujjawal, and associate Vidhan Singh funneled cash to thousands of Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, TD, Tangerine, and India’s ICICI bank accounts in 2020.

Sanjay and Shalini were then fired from their government information technology jobs and are currently on trial for criminal charges. Sanjay is charged with two counts of fraud and two counts of breach of trust.

He and Shalini are charged with possession of stolen property and laundering the proceeds of crime. Shalini, Chinmaya and Ujjawal have all denied any involvement in the alleged $11 million theft. Chinmaya and Ujjawal have not been charged criminally.

Singh was charged with money laundering, fraud, and possession of stolen property and Manish Gambhir was charged with possession of stolen property and possession of an identity document related — or purported to relate — to another person. In the criminal matter, Singh and Gambhir have denied any wrongdoing. Gambhir is not named in the civil action.

As the…