Quebec has tolerated for a decade that a couple suspected of fraud by the police and the banks operates a daycare center welcoming 30 children.
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Fatima El Boukhari and her husband, Mohamed Dawah, have been owners since 2012 of an unsubsidized daycare in the east end of Montreal. Over the years, the establishment bore the names of Chez Haidy and l’Arc-en-ciel, before becoming Aux coins des ami(e)s, in 2019.
Photos Le Journal and QMI Agency, Pascal Dugas Bourdon
Fatima El Boukari in her office at the Aux Coins des Amis daycare centre, captured by our hidden camera.
The Ministry of Family and Seniors (MFA) has increased inspections and investigations of this establishment since its opening. Two reports were made to the DPJ and a complaint was filed with the police by the MFA for document falsification.
However, Quebec waited until February 10 to send the daycare a notice prior to the revocation of its license, judging that it “was not in a position to ensure the health, safety and well-being of the children “.
This action was taken 48 hours following our Bureau of Investigation had questioned the ministry on the troubled past of this establishment.
Photo taken from the Facebook page of Mohamed Dawah
Mohamed Dawa
In the sights of the banks
Because the ministry is not the only one interested in the El Boukhari-Dawah couple. Banks have also had it in their sights in the past.
Claiming to have been defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Royal Bank of Canada, Desjardins and Scotiabank have indeed taken legal action once morest them in 2019 and 2020.
The court also condemned Fatima El Boukhari to pay more than $633,000 to Revenu Québec. The following month, she declared bankruptcy for $1.8 million.
Complaints to the police
Parents who feel aggrieved by the daycare have also filed a complaint with the police, who are actively investigating the allegations.
Fatima El Boukhari – who presents herself as Haidy Dawah – offers her clients a daily rate of $8.70, even though it is not a subsidized daycare.
Photo Le Journal, taken from the MaGarderie.com website
The business appears on the MaGarderie.com site at a daily rate of $8.70 per day, as if it were subsidized by the government, which it is not.
This bait would be the first piece of a scheme that would have cost parents several thousand dollars.
Our Bureau of Investigation has also captured on hidden camera the seductive speech that Fatima El Bouhkari makes to the parents. ” You have nothing to do. […] I will make your life easier! “, she promised.
The couple fight back
We then confronted Fatima El Boukhari, who went so far as to lie regarding her identity during a brief telephone conversation.
“It’s not me, I’m sorry, you’re on the wrong number,” she replied, before threatening us with legal action and hanging up.
Through the voice of his lawyer, the couple – who claim to have been separated since 2018 – then denied having anything to blame themselves for.
“If there was fraud, it might not have come from daycare. The process is simple and transparent,” assured Me Gérard Samet.
– With Annabelle Blais and Marc Sandreschi
$6200 for three days
Valérie Gagné will have to pay more than $6,200 for sending her daughter to daycare center Aux coins des ami(e)s for three days.
This mother from Montreal accuses Fatima El Boukhari of having demanded and pocketed thousands of dollars without her knowledge.
Our Bureau of Investigation has also spoken with five parents who are raising similar allegations.
Valérie Gagné registered her daughter part-time in August 2020. Fatima El Boukhari would have explained to her that her establishment was “half subsidized”.
“The government would deposit something in my account and she would withdraw it right away. I had nothing to worry regarding. And she charged me $8.35 a day more, ”explains Ms. Gagné, who believed that everything was in order.
She claims to have informed the management that she was withdrawing her child, following only three days of attendance.
Four installments
But between September and December 2020, four installments of some $1,550 were deposited by the department into its bank account and then withdrawn by the daycare.
She contacts Fatima El Boukhari and Mohamed Dawah several times, who assure her that the procedure is normal.
Valérie Gagné did not discover the pot of roses until the beginning of 2021. She noted that two requests for tax credits for childcare expenses were made in her name, which claimed 199 days of childcare in 2020 and 261 days in 2021.
His address had been changed on file and his signature had been forged. Her file contained a pay slip from a job she never held and a document stating that she was in school, which was false.
Despite all her efforts to denounce the situation, Valérie Gagné must today repay $6,200 to the tax authorities.
Through their lawyer, Fatima El Boukhari and Mohamed Dawah deny having filed tax credit applications on behalf of the parents or having produced false documents.
However, they acknowledge having recovered each month the tax credits for childcare expenses intended for the parents, but ensure that it was with the agreement of the latter.
They explain that parents are informed that daycare is unsubsidized and costs $48 a day.
The alleged scheme
◆ The daycare claims to offer daycare for $8.70 a day, even though it is not subsidized.
◆ When she meets the parents, Fatima El Bouhkari maintains that the State grants her a “subsidy” for the children, but that this subsidy first passes through the parents’ bank account before being paid to her.
◆ Its “accounting department” settles all the paperwork related to the “grant”. She asks for various personal information from the parents to proceed.
◆ Instead, the daycare fills out, on behalf of the parents and without their knowledge, an application for advance payment of the tax credit for childcare expenses with Revenu Québec. The number of days the child attends daycare is greatly increased, which maximizes the amount of the credit. The address on file is also modified: parents therefore do not receive communications concerning this request.
◆ Each month, parents receive an amount in their account from the government. They are convinced that it is the “subsidy”, since the daycare quickly withdraws this sum.
◆ At the end of the fiscal year, Revenu Québec claims from the parents the excess amounts it has paid them. Parents are thus forced to repay thousands of dollars, which have already been pocketed by the daycare.
What the ministry says
◆ “Any statement to the effect that [la garderie] would be in the process of awarding a grant or that it would receive payments is false.”
◆ “The tax credit for childcare expenses comes under Revenu Québec and this tax credit is intended for the parent himself, and not paid to the establishment. »
THEY HAVE DAYCARE IN THEIR SIGHT
Photo taken from the Facebook page of Mohamed Dawah
Since 2019, Mohamed Dawah has owned the private establishment Aux coins des ami(e)s, located in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district.
The Ministry
Not less than 53 complaints of all kinds have been filed with the Ministry of Family and Seniors (MFA), which has had to carry out 25 inspections at the daycare since 2012.
As of September 23, 2021, all deficiencies have been corrected, according to the ministry.
In January 2018, the daycare was ordered to pay nearly $7,000 for obstruction as well as for having illegally received children under 18 months.
An MFA investigation conducted in 2020 and 2021 led to the filing of a file with the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, who is still analyzing the case.
On February 10, the Department sent the owner of the daycare a preliminary notice to revoke the licence. The daycare has 10 days to respond before a final decision is made.
The banks
Royal Bank is initiating in August 2019 a lawsuit worth nearly $195,000 once morest the daycare and its owner.
The financial institution accuses Fatima El Bouhkari of having set up a “fraud scheme” involving transfers without funds and bank drafts, in particular for the benefit of Mohamed Dawah.
The following month, Desjardins sued the couple and the daycare. The fund reports a “sophisticated system” put in place by Fatima El Boukhari to “illegally monopolize” more than $105,000 “with the complicity of Dawah”.
An out-of-court settlement occurs in these two cases in October 2019.
In August 2020, the court orders Fatima El Boukhari to pay nearly $350,000 at Scotiabank – to whom she had stopped paying her mortgage – and ordered the sale under judicial supervision of her Montreal residence.
Came back to Quebec
Fatima El Boukhari is ordered to pay $633,276.62 to Revenu Québecin November 2019. At the same time, her husband became the owner of the daycare center renamed Aux coins des ami(e)s.
Revenu Québec accused Ms. El Boukhari of not having declared more than $1.1 million in income between 2012 and 2017. The woman also allegedly provided the tax authorities with several false bank account statements, fake checks and falsified invoices, according to a court document.
Parents who consider themselves deceived by Fatima El Boukhari have also denounced her to Revenu Québec, which refuses to say whether an investigation is underway.
According to our information, however, a search was carried out by the tax authorities at daycare last fall.
The police
Montreal police are currently investigating several cases of alleged fraud by parents in connection with the daycare, according to our sources.
Also, the Ministère de la Famille tells us that it has filed a complaint with the Montreal policein September 2021, for the falsification of certificates of absence of impediment emanating from the daycare.
Note that these certificates are generally issued… by the Montreal police.
