Criminal lawyer accused of bilking legal aid

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-criminal-lawyer-accused-of-bilking-legal-aid

GARY DIMMOCK

Updated: June 24, 2018

Robert James Miller, a long-established criminal lawyer with offices in L’Orignal and Cornwall, has been accused of billing legal aid for trials that never happened.

Miller, according to the Law Society of Ontario, is accused of overbilling legal aid by $214,000.

Some of the allegations include:

• That Miller billed fees for contested trials when the case had been resolved by either a guilty plea or withdrawal of charges in 24 instances;

• That Miller billed for services for separate clients on the same date and time in 142 instances;

 •That the lawyer billed for running bail hearings that never happened, 46 times;

• That Miller billed for filing charter motions that never happened, 25 times;

• That he billed for four preliminary hearings that never happened;

• That he billed fees for defending DNA applications nine times when the Crown hadn’t actually filed any;

• That he billed 13 times for judicial pre-trials that never happened; and

• That he provided detailed accounts that purported to support the hours billed that contained false or misleading information in 19 instances.

The law society, which governs lawyers, alleges that Miller overbilled from May 17, 2005, to July 12, 2007, and says he “failed to conduct himself in a way that maintains the integrity of the profession.”

The law society tribunal hearing division also alleges that Miller, licensed in 1989, failed to maintain “contemporaneous detailed records in support of his accounts to the (Law Society of Ontario).”

No date has been scheduled for Miller’s law society hearing.

The lawyer, who has done everything from drug to homicide cases, is vehemently denying that he defrauded legal aid.

In a statement to this newspaper, Miller said he is innocent and has always held himself to the highest ethical standards.

“I have never defrauded Legal Aid Ontario in any way. The allegations of professional misconduct made by the law society arise from allegations going back to 2005 through 2007. I have retained counsel and have instructed him to contest these allegations vigorously,” Miller said.

“I am presumed to be innocent. I am confident that the hearing panel will find that I am not guilty of any regulatory offences,” he said.

Miller said overbilling happened between 2005 and 2007. He blamed his own inadequate supervision. He said he was working 80 hours a week and had management issues that were a direct cause of what he described as billing irregularities.

Miller said he was not aware of it at the time and that he has fully co-operated with Legal Aid Ontario to get to the bottom of the matter.

He said he immediately started to pay back all the money and that he has repaid 75 per cent of it so far and will continue until “each and every dollar has been repaid.”

“I have been a legal aid service provider for almost 30 years and feel privileged to be able to assist those less fortunate members of society on legal aid certificates. I have always valued and respected the trust that Legal Aid Ontario has placed in me.”

The disciplinary hearing has not been scheduled and lawyers for Miller and the governing body are working on narrowing the issues and an agreed statement of facts with the hopes of resolving the allegations as quickly as possible.

gdimmock@postmedia.com

Sketchy online Ottawa business school reappears

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawas-tiny-startup-business-college-operates-on-the-fringes

http://ottawasun.com/news/local-news/shadowy-ottawa-business-school-is-back-in-business/wcm/2c6303fe-729e-4e61-ba98-8889d952c8cf

These articles are very interesting.  Somebody related to this case has been threatening to sue me repeatedly over the past couple of weeks for defamation.  I got at least 10 emails today about it.  I am not breaking Google's terms of service and I am not breaking any laws by quoting newspaper articles.  Good luck suing the newspaper too.  Ha ha.

AW has left a new comment on your post "June 2019 Local Items": 

Still need your address to serve you the notice of libel. You can provide that to my lawyer directly if you prefer. Please let me know. 

AW has left a new comment on your post "June 2019 Local Items": 

Do you need any additional information? 

AW has left a new comment on your post "June 2019 Local Items": 

Thank you very much for your reply. Would you be so kind to send me an email please? I would be much more comfortable to discuss this with you privately. The defamatory content is related to another posting. If you were not convinced that the content of the posting was defamatory, I will never trouble you again, I promise. 

AW has left a new comment on your post "June 2019 Local Items": 

Hello, I need to leave this note again, to prove the court we have tried to reach you to request the defamatory information removed. This is the fourth note I am leaving you. If you care to save us the hassle and cost of going to court, please get back to me via email @ wonderin.king@gmail.com. 
AW has left a new comment on your post "June 2019 Local Items": 

I am sorry, but if I don't hear back from you today, I am going to report you to google, and also start a legal action against you. Again, wonderin.king@gmail.com. Thank you. 

$400K vanishes from public service union's coffers

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/national-union-cape-missing-money-fraud-investigation-1.4693736

Money siphoned over 8 years through fraudulent e-transfers, CAPE suspects

Ashley Burke · CBC News · Posted: Jun 06, 2018 4:32 PM ET | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Greg Phillips, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, says his union is co-operating with investigators from the Ottawa Police Service's fraud unit. Ottawa police would not confirm an investigation to CBC News. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

A union representing public service professionals across Canada, including economists, statisticians and civilian employees of the RCMP, is trying to figure out how $400,000 was apparently siphoned from its bank accounts over the course of nearly a decade without anyone's knowledge.

Sources tell CBC News one employee has been fired from the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) in relation to an internal investigation, though the union said several employees were investigated.

I'm shocked. I'm disgusted.- Judy Everson, CAPE member

The union notified Ottawa police more than a year ago about the alleged misappropriation of funds, but never made it public.

That's outraged some union members who only found out about the fraud investigation from CBC News. 

"I'm sure many members don't know about this," said Judy Everson, who works at Statistics Canada. "I'm shocked. I'm disgusted. Do I have a trust in the union? Any faith in the union? Respect for the union? I think that's just gone down the drain for me. Unbelievable. The worst of it is, it's been going on not for months, but years."

CAPE president Greg Phillips said the union has been as transparent as it could have been.

Longtime CAPE member Judy Everson said she's 'disgusted' her union hasn't been more transparent about the missing money. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

"When there are no criminal charges laid, talking about misappropriation of funds … can really blow up into a storm," he said. "We have to be careful with what we say because everybody's innocent until proven guilty."

Tipped off in May 2017

In early May 2017, at least one person tipped off the union's national executive committee about potential financial irregularities, Phillips said.

"Some evidence was brought to our attention. We immediately took action to hire the forensic auditors to look into the matter."

The union said it also went to Ottawa police around the same time, but police would not confirm an investigation to CBC. No one has been charged in relation to the missing money.

The auditor, Deloitte, pored over CAPE's financial records and discovered that in 2017 alone more than $60,000 had been electronically transferred out of the union's main bank account without any supporting documents such as receipts or invoices. 

But that was just the beginning; the auditor found more suspicious e-transfers dating back eight years. 

From 2009 to 2017, between $380,000 and $400,000 disappeared, according to financial statements posted on CAPE's website.

CAPE is the third-largest labour union representing federal public servants, with about 15,000 members including economists, translators, policy analysts, researchers and statisticians. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

"Our members work very hard," Phillips said. "They pay their dues and they put their faith in us to protect their money, and to find out that $400,000 went missing — it's their money. It's really disappointing."

Transfers didn't require approval

Phillips said the missing money may have gone unnoticed for so long because the e-transfers were sporadic over the years. The amounts varied, but were typically in the low four figures.

Unlike cheques, electronic fund transfers at the time did not require approval from a second set of eyes. The e-transfers were used to pay employees their salary, overtime and any severance, Phillips said. 

The checks and balances obviously weren't in place.- Greg Phillips, CAPE president

"The checks and balances obviously weren't in place," he said. "Obviously, not every payment was validated before it went out."

Sources told CBC News an employee was terminated last year after the auditors were brought in. 

Phillips said the union has since instituted new policies, and e-transfers now require the approval of two executives who must use special fobs to generate a password that expires within seconds. 

CAPE now uses fobs like this to generate a one-time password needed to validate e-transfers. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

"What we're told by our financial experts is that it's higher than the average security," Phillips said.

Cost of investigation 'excessive'

Tracking down the problem hasn't been cheap.

The union has spent a "phenomenal amount of money" to investigate the missing money, Phillips admitted. Between Deloitte, lawyers and members of CAPE's national executive committee, it has paid out as much as $200,000. 

"It's an excessive amount of money," Phillips said.

So far, the union has only been able to recover $25,000 of the missing money through its insurance company, so its net loss could approach $600,000.

"It's a terrible situation, there's no sugarcoating that," Phillips said.

Members unaware

Health Canada employee Rakesh Manhas, a CAPE member for nearly 10 years, said he's disappointed.

"To know that much money can go missing without anybody noticing just kind of makes me think how this organization is being run," Manhas said. "I'm certainly not happy that my dues are being siphoned away like that."

'If money is just going missing then I'm a little worried about where my union dues are going to go,' said CAPE member Rakesh Manhas. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

He's one of several union members CBC News spoke with who were unaware of the missing money and ensuing investigation. 

Manhas believes members should have been kept better informed.

Mentioned in budget documents

Members were emailed links to CAPE's financial statements and approved the documents at a budget meeting in November 2017, but a mention of the missing money was buried on the last page of a 20-page report.

Phillips maintains the union has been transparent, and said the forensic audit was only finalized in January. 

But Manhas disagrees.

"Who looks at the 20th page of the financial documents?" Manhas asked. "It should be right on the front page of the home page of the website, and it should be there for everybody to see."

"We had a vote for our budget. Those audited financial statements were available with the vote," Phillips said.

Union could have been more transparent, members say

00:00 00:43

Union Members Rakesh Manhas and Judy Everson say they're disappointed CAPE didn't do more to alert members about the missing funds. 0:43

Man who triggered police race data project charged with defrauding employer

http://ottawasun.com/news/local-news/ottawa-man-who-prompted-police-race-data-project-charged-with-fraud/wcm/05f066e3-a809-4707-bed3-a43ac3c5a813


Shaamini Yogaretnam

Chad Aiken participates in the Violence 360 event held at Shopify HQ on Elgin Street earlier this year.Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia

An Ottawa man who has become the face of the fight against Ottawa police racial profiling has been charged with defrauding his former employer of thousands of dollars in automobile insurance in an alleged rental car scheme involving two others, this newspaper has learned.

Chad Aiken, who previously worked at Avis car rental, has been charged with fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and fraudulent concealment.

Aiken, 31, was just a teenager when he was pulled over in 2005 by Ottawa police in a traffic stop. He filed a human rights complaint against the force alleging that he was pulled over simply for driving a Mercedes while being black. The settlement of that complaint led to Ottawa police conducting a two-year collection of race data on drivers stopped by officers. That study found that black and Middle Eastern drivers were disproportionately stopped by local police.

The criminal charges against Aiken date back to December 2017. Investigators allege that over the course of a month, he and two others — Fercule Musanintore, 57, and her son Spike Lee Mwenisi Mugisha, 24 — conspired to commit fraud against an Avis location at 2150 Robertson Rd. in Bells Corners by agreeing to fraudulently obtain insurance for one of the company’s vehicles.

Musanintore has also been charged with intentionally attempting to mislead police and divert suspicion by reporting a fake collision. She was also charged with fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Police also criminally charged her son, Mugisha, with fraud and conspiracy and with the highway traffic offence of failing to report a collision.

Along with Aiken, Mugisha, too, has been charged with fraudulent concealment for allegedly trying to pass off an Enterprise rental vehicle as one owned by Avis. Like Aiken, Mugisha previously worked in the car rental industry, though not at Avis.

The exact motivation for the alleged scheme isn’t known, and details of the police case have not yet been made public but charges against the trio were laid by Ottawa police in early March 2018.

That same month Aiken spoke in Ottawa on a provincial tour highlighting his campaign to hold police accountable for racial profiling.

Aiken said he estimated he had been stopped by police around 50 times, starting when he was around 11 or 12.

“At first being stopped by police seemed kind of cool — kids at school thought so,” he said in an interview before his talk, “but after a while, it was no longer cool”.

Aiken said it has got to the stage where he refuses to drive at night unless he absolutely has to.

“There’s a 90 per cent chance I will be stopped if I go out,” he said.

At the time, Aiken told the audience: “I have no criminal record. I have a degree (from Carleton University). I have children and a house in the suburbs, which is policed by the Ontario Provincial Police, by the way — and I’ve never been stopped by them.”

None of the charges against the three, who have no criminal records, has been tested in court.

Aiken and Mugisha are next scheduled to appear in court in June.

Musanintore is next scheduled to make a court appearance on June 26 when court records indicate she is expected to take a plea.

Musanintore’s LinkedIn profile lists her as an accountant at the Supreme Court of Canada. A directory of all federal public servants lists her as an acquisitions and serials coordinator for the high court.

Ottawa police continue to investigate the case and say more charges could be laid.

syogaretnam@postmedia.com

twitter.com/shaaminiwhy

Ottawa MD suspended after borrowing $10,000 from elderly patient

http://ottawasun.com/news/local-news/ottawa-doctor-suspended-after-borrowing-10000-from-elderly-patient/wcm/300b785d-1b7b-43da-b3a9-be7d5cf8478b

An Ottawa doctor stepped over the line when he borrowed $10,000 from an elderly patient suspected of having dementia to pay his office rent, says the provincial body that regulates physicians. 

The discipline committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has found that Dr. Peter Diarmuid Davison committed an act of professional misconduct and suspended him for three months as of May 2.

In the summer  of 2016, Davison, a family doctor who was licensed to practice in 1975, found himself in “acute financial difficulties, both of a professional and personal nature,” according to a report from the discipline committee.

Davison was having problems paying his office rent. He turned to a close friend, who couldn’t help. He asked his landlord to come to a solution, but the landlord only partially agreed and Davison needed some money to get back into his office.

“Given his age and stage of his career, he was also deeply embarrassed by the circumstances,” said the report. “Aside from his wife and close friend, he did not share details of his financial difficulties with other family members, including his children, nor did he seek support from additional friends and family.”

Davison turned to a man in his 90s who had been patient since the 1990s.

The committee’s report said a geriatric nurse had evaluated the man in 2015, and found “suspected dementia” and “probable mixed mild dementia.” Davison had also conducted an assessment of the patient in support of the man’s application for admission into a long-term care home, and concluded that the patient needed to have his medication dispensed more frequently because the patient “forgets to take his medications” and was sometimes late for refills by up to a month.

Davison visited the patient in his condo, where the man lived alone, and asked for financial help. No one else was present.

The patient gave Davison a cheque for $10,000. Davison told the patient he would pay him back when he could and cashed the cheque on July 28, 2016.

In August, Davison again visited the patient’s condo and told him that he could not yet repay the money, but was expecting a cheque from OHIP in mid-August.

On Sept. 1, 2016, the college received a complaint from a close friend of the patient. Davison was verbally notified of the complaint on Sept. 12 and in writing on Sept. 19. On Sept. 20, he received the OHIP payment and gave the patient a $10,000 cheque, dated that day, along with a thank-you card. The cheque was cashed Sept 22.

A college investigator spoke to the patient in November 2016. When the investigator asked if the cheque had been deposited, the patient replied that far as he was concerned, the matter was closed.

On Oct. 31, Davison told the college that he was under considerable stress when he approached the patient. While he believed at the time that he and the patient were on equal footing and the patient was not a vulnerable person, he told the college he appreciated that he put the man in a difficult position and apologized to him. 

Davison had no prior history of any discipline proceeding and co-operated with the investigation, according to the College, which regulates medicine, including issuing the certificates of registration that allow doctors to practise medicine.

The discipline committee also ordered Davison to take instruction in medical ethics within six months at his own expense, to appear before the panel to be reprimanded and to pay the $5,500 to cover the cost of the disciplinary proceeding within 30 days.

Davison could not be reached for comment. A message on the answering machine at his office on McCarthy Road said only that the office would be closed for the month of May, and advised patients in need of urgent care  to visit a walk-in clinic or emergency room.

jlaucius@postmedia.com