‘How did this government fail to notice?’ Doug Ford’s Tories under fire after ex-bureaucrat admits stealing $47.4M

Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are under fire after former provincial bureaucrat Sanjay Madan was able to steal $47.4 million in taxpayers’ money.NDP Leader Marit Stiles is demanding to know how Madan could dupe the Tories and the previous Liberal government between 2011 and 2020.“Where was the government — both the Liberals and the Conservatives — when (almost) $50 million of government funding went out the door?” Stiles thundered Wednesday.Her comments came the day after Madan pleaded guilty to stealing $47.4 million from Queen’s Park — including $10.8 million in pandemic relief funds — and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.The one-time Ministry of Education information technology leader was terminated in October 2020.Madan admitted to “relaxing” security protocols on the Support for Families program, which gave parents or guardians $200 per child under age 12, and $250 per child up to 21 with special needs, for online educational expenses early in the COVID-19 pandemic.That enabled him to funnel millions of dollars to thousands of TD, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Tangerine and India’s ICICI accounts.But Madan also confessed to stealing another $36.6 million as part of a complex “fee-for-service” computer consultant scam dating back to January 2011.He and an associate used real and fake companies to subcontract IT work.Knowing the government paid about $900 per day to computer consultants, Madan subcontracted workers at a daily rate of $400 to $500 and pocketed the difference.That lucrative fraud — undetected by successive Tory and Liberal governments as well as auditor general Bonnie Lysyk — brought in proceeds of as much as $6.6 million a year for nearly a decade. “How did this government fail to notice $47.4 million going out the door?” said Stiles, chiding the Progressive Conservatives in the legislature’s daily question period.“This individual was able to siphon millions of dollars out of public coffers with no one on that side noticing. It’s very concerning, to say the least,” she said.Solicitor General Michael Kerzner countered that “the former employee in question pleaded guilty to breach of trust, fraud and money laundering, which are all Criminal Code offences.”“The OPP will continue to investigate and enforce any acts which violate the Criminal Code. We expect everyone who works for the government of Ontario to uphold the highest standard of professional ethics,” said Kerzner.“We will accept nothing less,” he said.Government house leader Paul Calandra noted “the majority of the funds have been recovered.”“The fact the individual was identified by the police and has pled guilty it seems to be quite obvious that we did find out who it was and what they were doing,” he said. Calandra defended the haste with which the Support for Families payments went out early in the pandemic.“Of course we had a fund … because unless the opposition had Nostradamus working on their side, none of us knew what COVID-19 was going to throw at us, right?” he said.“We had to be able to respond quickly and we did.”In the form of forfeited properties — including a $20-million apartment complex in Waterloo — and cash, Madan has repaid much of what he stole.But he will still have to pay back an additional $13.1 million within five years of his release from prison.Madan’s associate, Vidhan Singh, charged with money laundering, fraud and possession of stolen property, is being tried separately, as is Manish Gambhir, charged with possession of stolen property and possession of an identity document related — or purported to relate — to another person.Those cases are still proceeding. There is also an ongoing civil trial focused on Madan and Singh, in which the province alleges as much as $75 million may have been stolen in a “conspiracy” involving nine other people. Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie