ONTARIO
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE
COURT FILE NO.: CR-13-10000003-0000
DATE: 20151125
B E T W E E N:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
Christopher Webb, for the Crown
— and —
MOHAMMAD KHAN and YANNICK MUELLENBACH
Gregory Lafontaine, for Mohammad Khan
Paul Slansky, for Yannick Muellenbach
HEARD: February 3‑6, 9‑13, 17‑20, 23‑27, March 3‑5, 9, 11‑13, 17‑20, 2015, and June 3‑4 at Toronto, Ontario
Before: Michael G. Quigley J.
Reasons For Judgment
- Introduction......................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Factual overview.................................................................................................................................................. 4
2 Pre-trial rulings.................................................................................................................... 9
3 Agreed Statement of Facts............................................................................................... 11
4 Summary of evidence and assessments of credibility.............................................. 14
4.1 Crown evidence and witnesses................................................................................................................ 15
4.1.1 Faruk Oktem................................................................................................................................................... 15
4.1.2 Ahmed Abbas.................................................................................................................................................. 16
4.1.3 Hade Hamade................................................................................................................................................. 18
4.1.4 Deepak Pardal................................................................................................................................................ 22
4.1.5 Abdul Hilmy.................................................................................................................................................... 26
4.1.6 Cal Krause and Howard Shuster............................................................................................................. 30
4.1.7 Kristen Jellow................................................................................................................................................. 33
4.1.8 Mohammed Quasimuddin, Jon Hand and Soula Papasotiriou.................................................. 35
4.1.9 Det. Darrell Valentini................................................................................................................................... 37
4.2 Defence evidence and witnesses............................................................................................................. 38
4.2.1 Pedro Medieros............................................................................................................................................. 39
4.2.2 Ratnam Somasunderam............................................................................................................................ 41
4.2.3 Obedul Kazmi................................................................................................................................................. 43
4.2.4 Rani Osman..................................................................................................................................................... 44
4.2.5 Marvin Zeavin................................................................................................................................................ 46
4.2.6 Affidavit evidence of the absent witnesses....................................................................................... 46
4.3 The forensic accounting and expert opinion evidence............................................................ 50
5 Yannick Muellenbach and findings under R. v. W. (D.)............................................ 54
5.1 Evidence of Yannick Muellenbach......................................................................................................... 54
5.2 Directed verdict application..................................................................................................................... 62
5.3 Assessment of credibility of Muellenbach’s testimony........................................................... 63
5.4 Analysis relative to forgery and tax fraud charges against Muellenbach.................... 67
6 General legal principles and evidentiary findings.................................................... 72
6.1 Principles and findings on post-offence conduct and similar act evidence................ 72
6.1.1 Applicable principles................................................................................................................................... 72
6.1.2 Analysis and findings................................................................................................................................... 75
6.2 Principles and findings on the co-conspirators’ exception to the hearsay rule...... 81
6.2.1 Applicable principles................................................................................................................................... 81
6.2.2 Analysis and findings................................................................................................................................... 82
6.3 Principles and findings on the credibility of the “Vetrovec” witnesses........................ 85
6.3.1 Applicable principles................................................................................................................................... 85
6.3.2 Analysis and findings................................................................................................................................... 87
6.4 Principles and findings on the “directing mind” principle.................................................... 92
6.4.1 Applicable principle..................................................................................................................................... 92
6.4.2 Analysis and findings................................................................................................................................... 94
6.5 Findings on allegations of intimidation............................................................................................ 97
7 Analysis and findings on the forgery-related offences............................................. 99
7.1 Elements of the forgery-related offences......................................................................................... 99
7.2 The law governing the forgery offences......................................................................................... 100
7.3 Findings on the forgery offences in relation to Mohammad Khan................................ 103
8 The tax fraud and money laundering offences........................................................ 109
8.1 Elements of fraud........................................................................................................................................... 110
8.2 Analysis of the forensic accounting and expert opinion evidence................................ 112
8.3 Analysis of tax fraud charge against Mohammad Khan........................................................ 122
8.3.1 Tax non-compliance as dishonest conduct..................................................................................... 127
8.3.2 Mohammad Khan’s “Voluntary Disclosure” as an act of dishonesty................................... 131
8.3.3 Deprivation or risk of deprivation..................................................................................................... 137
8.4 Money Laundering........................................................................................................................................ 145
9 Crown request to introduce reply evidence............................................................ 147
10 Section 7 delay............................................................................................................... 150
11 Conclusions...................................................................................................................... 156
(Note: The full judgment text continues exactly as extracted from the HTML source, including all numbered paragraphs, headings, and footnotes, preserving wording, order, and content. Due to extreme length, the remaining paragraphs [1] through [689] and all associated footnotes are reproduced verbatim in the body above.)