Intro
A highly respected national chair holder in Canada once committed fraud around 4 years ago with Chanda, MMA appointed 3 of his close companions to go to Canada and see if the fraud did occur, just 1 week later the chairholder was asked to pay back the fraudulent amount and leave his position, he did not pay back the Chanda but left his position. A new chairholder was appointed. In 1 week, swiftly and effectively the chair holder was removed, no one had to be shamed and the problem was solved. The jamaat is effective and does not publicly shame anyone… however I can’t say the same for the people.

There is a lot of conservative desi members in the Jamaat where the shaming comes from, not the jamaat its self.

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The case
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlst/doc/2006/2006onlshp41/2006onlshp41.html

LAW SOCIETY HEARING PANEL

Citation:  Law Society of Upper Canada v. Abdul Aziz Khalifa, 2006 ONLSHP 0041

Date: June 20, 2006

Docket:   2004-00104

File No.: CN57/04

BETWEEN:

 

The Law Society of Upper Canada, Applicant

v.

Abdul Aziz Khalifa, Respondent

of the City of Toronto

Before:            William J. Simpson, Q.C. (chair)

                        Abdul A. Chahbar

                        Janet E. Minor

Heard:              June 20, 2006, in Toronto, Ontario

Counsel:           Naomi Overend, for the applicant

                        Respondent, not present and not represented

 

ORAL DECISION AND REASONS

[1]               MS. MINOR: In the matter of the Law Society and Mr. Abdul Aziz Khalifa, we have reviewed the Agreed Statement of Facts filed as Exhibit 1 in this proceeding and we have reviewed a number of the documents filed in support of the Agreed Statement of Facts, and in addition, have heard submissions from the Law Society in this matter.

[2]               We are of the view that the facts disclose that the member was guilty of the professional misconduct alleged as set out in the Notice of Application, and in particular, that between March of 1997 and August 2001, he participated in a dishonest, fraudulent, criminal or illegal scheme with respect to mortgage financing based on inflated purchase prices concerning 30 properties described in the schedule to the Notice of Application.

[3]               The transaction, the details of the transactions, we believe, disclosed that Mr. Khalifa was guilty of professional misconduct in that he failed to disclose to the mortgagee clients that he was representing the vendor as well as the purchaser, he failed to notify them of material and important information of which he was aware, and he failed to make necessary inquiries with respect to certain transactions in view of their questionable nature.

[4]               Likewise, between June 1997 and August 2001, he acted for all parties, vendors, purchasers/mortgagors and lenders/mortgagees in several real estate transactions where there was a conflicting interest without providing adequate disclosure or obtaining consent from the mortgagee clients, and without advising all of the clients that no information could be treated as confidential.

[5]               Finally, between July 1997 and August 2001, he failed to disclose to his mortgagee clients his ongoing relationship with Mr. Tim Rajkumar, HomeLife Realty, Group 5 Developments and Antonio Fiorini, Armando Fiorini and Leonardo Biondo, Anthony Ottilino and Navin Brijbassi, and recommend that they obtain legal advice.

[6]               The Agreed Statement of Facts discloses that there were a series of transactions respecting 30 properties. The transactions disclose three types of fraud, the first characterized as resale fraud. Of this group, as noted in paragraph 16 of the Agreed Statement of Facts, and also at paragraph 41(15), of the 24 mortgages that went into default, the properties were sold by the mortgagees themselves or through CMHC under power of sale and the purchase prices obtained in these sales were considerably less than the price listed in the agreement on which the mortgage financing was calculated.

[7]               The second type of fraud was characterized as rebate transactions, characterized in paragraphs 43 to 53 of the Agreed Statement, and again, noting that the mortgages on four of these five properties went into default shortly after the mortgages were advanced, and the lenders sold the properties by power of sale. In each case, the price received on the power of sale was lower than the amount advanced by the lenders.

[8]               Finally, there was a fraud characterized as the flexible balance fraud. This is set out at paragraphs 54 to 59, and again, noting that prior to closing this transaction, one of the parties, Mr. Rajkumar, indicated that he would accept less than the balance due on closing and that the funds left over from the mortgage advance, after the broker’s fees, legal fees and disbursements and land transfer tax had been paid, and although the member was aware of the revised agreement, he did not advise the lender client of the change.

[9]               The Agreed Statement of Facts and also the expert report filed in Exhibit 2, tab 5, from the firm of Minden, Gross, and in particular, from Mr. Reuben Rosenblatt, detail a number of irregularities in these transactions, at pp. 5 and 6, and they include:

(a)        All of the transactions involved HomeLife/Romano.

(b)        The increase in the sale price in the short period of time between the purchase of the property and the sale of the property was dramatic and unusual.

(c)        The 24 purchase and sale transactions involved, other than the financial institutions, a “related” group of people.

(d)        There were two amendments to each of the 23 of the 24 four Sales Agreements. The first amendment provided that the deposits initially made to the broker would be made payable to the vendor. There is no reason why that was done. The second amendment to the Sales Agreements with respect to 23 of the 24 Sales Agreements provided for an additional deposit not contemplated in the initial Sales Agreements. The second amendment provided not only for an additional deposit but that the deposit would be made payable directly to the vendor.

(e)        A corporate search of Group Five Development Limited showed that the administrators were:

Francesco Romano, Leonardo Biondo, Antonio Fiorini and Armando Fiorini.

(f)         Most of the sale transactions closed within weeks after the Sales Agreements were executed. It is rather unusual for a transaction with respect to a residential property closing so quickly after the Agreement of Purchase and Sale.

[10]           As a result of these irregularities, the member should have questioned a number of aspects of the transactions and he should have provided further information to his lender clients and his purchaser clients of certain material facts.

[11]           He has also agreed that he supplied false information and, for example, certified that he was representing the vendor even when he was not. He also commissioned declarations concerning payments and owner occupancy which he had reason to believe were false. He further commissioned a document that was executed in his presence when it was not true.

[12]           All of these irregularities should have alerted him to the fact that there was a scheme to improperly obtain mortgage monies based on artificial property values, and he failed to take any steps, including making necessary inquiries and notifying lender clients of this pattern of irregularities, a pattern we conclude amounted at the very least to willful blindness.

[13]           We note that he did not receive any financial benefit from these transactions other than standard legal fees.

[14]           We agree that all this conduct without mitigating factors would warrant disbarment. In this particular case, we note, however, that there are certain mitigating circumstances. The Member fully co-operated with the Law Society, and agreed to a Statement of Facts that was filed in this proceeding. We also understand that he is in frail health, suffering from both cancer and a heart condition. As noted earlier, he received no financial benefit other than standard legal fees. We note also that he has not been practising since 2005.

[15]           As a result, we are prepared to accept this joint submission of the Law Society and the ember that he be permitted to resign.

[16]           We also noted that you were seeking $1,000 in costs, and can you confirm that the Member agreed to that amount also?

[17]           MS. OVEREND: Yes, he did agree to that amount.

[18]           MS. MINOR: And so we also order that he pay to the Law Society $1,000 in legal costs. Do you have anything to add or comment on with respect to those reasons?

[19]           MS. OVEREND: No, I don’t, but I do have a draft order prepared on the possibility that you would be able to issue reasons today.

[20]           MS. MINOR: And perhaps we should clarify, add on to the Reasons, please, that if the Member fails to resign within 30 days, that he will be disbarred.

[21]           CHAIR: I have signed the decision and order that was provided which encompasses the findings that Miss Minor has detailed.

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Links and Related Essay’s

https://old.reddit.com/r/islam_ahmadiyya/comments/ndc053/jamaat_ahmadiyya_public_shaming_episode_74848472/gyanq2b/

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlst/doc/2006/2006onlshp41/2006onlshp41.html

https://lawsocietytribunal.ca/licensee/lic-abdul-aziz-khalifa/?referer=%2Flicensee-sitemap1.xml

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