Government-issued iPhone wiped in wake of alleged theft of $11M in COVID-19 funds, court documents claim

An Ontario government computer specialist — fired after allegations that $11 million in COVID-19 funds was stolen — allegedly erased his ministry-issued iPhone before surrendering it.

The province 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 funnel pandemic relief cash payments to hundreds of TD and Bank of Montreal accounts.

Ontario Superior Court documents allege “damages for fraud, theft, conversion, and conspiracy in an amount estimated to be at least $11 million,” from the Support for Families program that helps parents with in-home learning expenses.

The Madans all worked in information technology at Queen’s Park.

Sanjay Madan was a $176,608-a-year director in the Ministry of Education’s iAccess Solutions Branch before being fired with cause last month.

Through both his civil and criminal lawyers, he has not commented on the allegations, which have not been proven in court.

“I can confirm that I am representing him, but I cannot comment further. I’ll make my comment in court,” criminal lawyer Stephen Hebscher said Tuesday.

A team of seven detectives from Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets Branch is investigating but no criminal charges have been laid.

In the government’s court action to freeze any sale of the family’s assets — including seven Toronto properties and more than $1 million in profit from selling an eighth home in September — it’s alleged he “used his in-depth knowledge” as the computer application’s IT leader “to direct an unauthorized rule change to allow for fraudulent … payments.”

The province also alleged when it “collected its government-issued phones from Sanjay and Chinmaya, the phones had been reset by these defendants to their factory settings and/or had their government profiles removed, which may permanently delete all the data from their phones.”

“They took these steps in order to conceal and profit from their wrongful conduct and injure the (government),” the court documents allege.

“The defendants’ misconduct, including their efforts to conceal it, demonstrates high handed, wanton and callous disregard for the rights and interests of the (government), which has, as a result, suffered significant losses, both from a financial and reputational perspective,” the documents allege.

Under Ontario law, such records are supposed to be preserved.

The province is seeking from the Madans and Singh “an award of punitive damages in the amount of $2 million.”

Chinmaya Madan, Sanjay and Shalini Madan’s elder son, was technical product manager at the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services for three years before resigning in August. Now working for Microsoft in Seattle, he made his personal website private in recent days.

Lawyer Louie Genova, who is representing Chinmaya Madan, said Tuesday he could not comment.

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. It is not known if she still has her government-issued iPhone.

She has not responded to repeated calls or emails seeking comment.

But in an interview last week, Ujjawal Madan, who worked as a government contract employee on his father’s information technology team, said he was aware of the allegations involving the family.

“I cannot comment at this time,” Ujjawal Madan said from Atlanta, where he is a master’s student at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“It’s not a good time.”

Singh, a Madan associate 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.

In the legislature Tuesday, NDP MPP Tom Rakocevic (Humber River-Black Creek) demanded to know how the Progressive Conservative government “could lose track of so much taxpayer money and what they’re doing to get it back?”

“Thanks to reporting by the Toronto Star, we’re learning of the alleged theft of at least $11 million meant to help needy Ontarians during the pandemic,” said Rakocevic.

Government house leader Paul Calandra acknowledged the situation “is very, very serious.”

“That is something that is before the courts and, as such, we cannot comment,” said Calandra.

On Monday, announced a revamped plan for families, now known as the Support for Learners 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,” the premier said.

To offset pandemic-related expenses, the government is giving parents $200 for each child up to age 12 and $250 for each special needs child and youth up to age 21.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: