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TORONTO – Four family members who worked for the Ontario government in information technology defrauded the province of at least $ 11 million in COVID-19 subsidies, claims a complaint statement.
The unproven civil claim on behalf of the province, which also demands $ 2 million in punitive damages, accuses them and others of illegally issuing bank checks under the Support for Families program which aimed to meet the cost of learning children to home.
Named as defendant in the Superior Court’s claim is Sanjay Madan, who had a senior IT role and helped develop the IT application to claim and approve the benefit.
“The Madan family has taken advantage of their working positions with Ontario and unique access to the (program) and payment processing system,” the government says. “Plaintiff was particularly vulnerable to Sanjay, particularly with regards to the integrity of the … application.”
She is also named the wife of Madan Shalini Madan, a senior-level IT manager with the ministry responsible for the program’s electronic payment processing.
According to the lawsuit, Sanjay Madan and his family opened more than 400 accounts with the Bank of Montreal between April and May. They then filed about 10,000 checks made out to fictitious applicants with thousands of non-existent children under the support program.
Most of the deposits were made over a four-week period starting May 25, coinciding with a rule change that allowed more than five payments to be made to an applicant. The government claims that Sanjay Madan triggered the rule change or was aware of it and took advantage of it.
“He would have been very familiar with the computer application (of the program) and any vulnerabilities due to fraud and other misuse,” the government says.
The claim also says that Sanjay and Chinmaya Madan canceled their government-issued phones to cover up their misdeeds.
Christopher Du Vernet, the family’s attorney, said he could not discuss the complaint.
“As I’m sure you can appreciate, this is a very difficult time for the entire Madan family,” Du Vernet said Wednesday. “In addition, the matter is currently being considered by the courts. Given these circumstances, I have been instructed to advise that any comments our client will make will be in material filed with the courts and only there.”
However, in other court documents, Sanjay Madan is said to have told the government that he could explain “all of this” and that he “helped many families”.
Other defendants include son Chinmaya Madan, a technical product manager who resigned in July, and his brother, Ujjawal Madan, a programmer analyst, who worked indirectly under his father. He resigned in August.
No criminal charges have been announced.
The government also notified its intention to seize the money that the family obtained fraudulently. He obtained a court order to hand over his bank accounts to the court pending the outcome of the case.
To prevent respondents from hiding money, the government obtained a court order freezing the family’s assets, which included a listing of properties in Toronto.
The government says in a document that Sanjay Madan claims that payments for the program were directed to him by the rented tenants.
“It is reasonable to believe that Sanjay’s alleged tenants are not the parents of more than 10,000 children,” the government says.
“The Attorney General argues that the cash in bank accounts and safety deposit boxes is likely the proceeds of illegal activities.”
The freeze order was later amended to allow for a payment of money from a previous sale of Madan’s property, but the family will have to return to court to have more funds for living expenses and legal fees released.
Other defendants in the lawsuit filed in the court’s business directory division are several companies: Intellisources, Newgen, and Wang and Associates.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 25, 2020.
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