Doug Ford revamps COVID-19 relief program for families in wake of alleged $11M fraud
Premier Doug Ford is forging ahead with new emergency COVID-19 cash payments for families despite the alleged $11 million theft from the original assistance program.
Ford said Monday the government's online application portal has been beefed up in the wake of the controversy surrounding last spring's Support for Families program.
We've introduced stronger security measures on these payments to ensure this never ever happens again ... including spot audits, introducing additional qualification rules, (and) implementing stronger bank validations," he said of the renamed Support for Learners initiative.
As first disclosed by the Star, the province alleges that some or all of" Sanjay Madan, Shalini Madan, their sons Chinmaya Madan and Ujjawal Madan, and associate Vidhan Singh perpetrated a massive fraud" to siphon Support for Families payments to hundreds of bank accounts.
According to documents filed with the Ontario Superior Court, there are damages for fraud, theft, conversion, and conspiracy in an amount estimated to be at least $11 million." The government alleges cash was deposited into accounts at TD and the Bank of Montreal.
The allegations involving the Madans, who all worked as Ontario government computer specialists, and their associate, Singh, have not been proven in court. A police investigation is ongoing.
Health Minister Christine Elliott emphasized the province is taking the alleged fraud seriously.
We are pursuing this very quickly and very strongly because the people of Ontario deserve to know what actually happened," said Elliott.
Sanjay Madan was a $176,608-a-year director in the Ministry of Education's iAccess Solutions Branch before being fired with cause in early November.
Through his lawyer, Christopher Du Vernet, he has not commented on the allegations.
In the government's court factum, it is alleged he used his in-depth knowledge" as the information technology leader on the computer application to direct an unauthorized rule change to allow for fraudulent ... payments."
Sanjay has not denied that he obtained millions of dollars to which he was not entitled, but rather has provided unreasonable explanations, while also acknowledging that the money should be returned," the court documents say.
His wife, Shalini Madan is the $132,513-a-year manager of E-Ministries Support at the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. She was suspended with pay on Aug. 11.
Their elder son Chinmaya Madan was technical product manager at the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services for three years before resigning in August. He now works for Microsoft in Seattle.
Neither Shalini Madan nor Chinmaya Madan have responded to repeated calls or emails seeking comment.
In an interview last week, Ujjawal Madan, who worked as a government contract employee on his father's information technology team, told the Star he was aware of the allegations involving the family.
I cannot comment at this time. It's not a good time," Ujjawal Madan said from Atlanta, where is a master's student at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Their associate, Singh, who is alleged to have received 170 support payments worth $42,500 to 30 new Bank of Montreal accounts opened in June, has not been available for comment through his lawyer, Christoph Pike.
A court order is blocking any sales of seven Toronto properties owned by the Madan family, including six condominiums and a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in North York.
An eighth property, a four-bedroom-four-bathroom North York house, was sold in September, netting a profit of $1,031,407. Most of that money has also been frozen by the court, with $139,000 being held in trust for the families' legal expenses.
Seven detectives from Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets Branch are investigating the alleged $11 million fraud, but no criminal charges have been laid.
Investigators are looking at past projects led by Sanjay Madan, who won an IT World Canada award in 2010 for leading the $4 million initiative to revamp the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) loan and grant disbursement application.
The OSAP program disburses billions of dollars each year in loans and grants to hundreds of thousands of university and college students.
Seven former colleagues of Sanjay Madan have now contacted the Star since reading about the probe.
Speaking confidentially for fear of reprisals, all said he was very particular about which outside contractors and subcontractors he would retain on projects.
The past colleagues each noted he chose to work repeatedly with the same trusted group of contractors.
As it did last spring, the government is again paying parents $200 for each child up to age 12 and $250 for each special needs child and youth up to age 21 to offset the cost of in-home pandemic learning.
The $380 million Support for Learners initiative is a revamped version of the $378 million Support for Families program.
Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie
Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy