Accused of helping Iran buy anti-drone systems, Toronto-area man says he’s ‘not a criminal’ | 24CA News

On Nov. 21, 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol brokers on the Port of Newark, N.J., seized an industrial microwave system that its export papers mentioned was going to Dubai.

But based on U.S. investigators, the town was solely a transit level for the “highly sensitive” gadget, which can be utilized to make highly effective directed power weapons.

The remaining vacation spot was Tehran, they mentioned, to a know-how firm that was on the U.S. sanctions checklist for supplying Iran’s infamous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

For his alleged position within the scheme, a 43-year-old Toronto business marketing consultant named Bader Altaf Fakih was indicted by the U.S. Justice Department.

An Indian citizen who lives in Whitby, Ont., Fakih can also be accused of making an attempt to purchase two counter-drone programs value US$1 million for a similar Iranian purchasers.

The expenses awaiting him in U.S. District Court embody cash laundering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and evading sanctions. His Toronto-based tech firm Ipaxiom can also be named as a defendant.

But whereas the U.S. case in opposition to Fakih was introduced over a 12 months in the past, Canadian authorities haven’t arrested him. His solely court docket proceedings on this facet of the border concern his software for Canadian citizenship, with the assistance of the workplace of a member of Parliament.

On the identical day his indictment was unsealed in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 27, 2022, Fakih filed a case in opposition to the federal government within the Federal Court in Toronto, arguing a “duty is owed” to him to course of his citizenship software.

“I would like to place a humble/plea request to expedite the processing of my application as it has impacted and held me from attending many important events,” he wrote in an electronic mail to immigration officers on May 2, 2022.

Canadian immigration data present that, on three events between 2019 and 2022, Liberal MP John McKay’s workplace made inquiries on Fakih’s behalf about his bid for citizenship.

Asked why his workplace had helped Fakih, McKay mentioned in an announcement that “constituents are entitled to reach out to their MP’s offices for assistance related to services or programs offered by the federal government.”

McKay, who chairs the standing committee on nationwide defence, declined to reply to questions particularly about Fakih.

Were he to acquire Canadian citizenship, Fakih couldn’t be deported — though he may nonetheless be extradited to face trial within the United States.

Canadian authorities wouldn’t say whether or not the U.S. had requested Fakih’s extradition.

He advised immigration officers in an electronic mail that whereas his brother was “involved in a legal matter” within the U.S., he had “not been provided with any court documents indicating that I am personally being charged or involved in any criminal acts relating to the case.”

Saber Fakih, an Ipaxiom official primarily based within the United Kingdom, has already pleaded responsible to violating U.S. sanctions in opposition to Iran, and the indictment in opposition to Bader Fakih was filed in court docket in Ottawa in January as a part of his citizenship case.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Patty Hartman, mentioned Fakih was nonetheless needed for allegedly evading sanctions put in place to include Iran and its Revolutionary Guard.

In a cellphone name, Fakih mentioned he had been suggested to not remark. However, he mentioned he opposed the Iranian regime, and new info could be forthcoming in regards to the case, though he wouldn’t elaborate.

“I’m not a criminal,” he mentioned.

Five months in the past, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced “the most robust and comprehensive set of sanctions in the world” in opposition to the Revolutionary Guard, or IRGC, the armed group that protects Iran’s clerical regime.

The coverage banned hundreds of IRGC members from Canada. Trudeau vowed to spend $76 million “to implement sanctions and ensure the government can move more quickly to freeze and seize” Iranian property.

2:32Canada formally bans greater than 10k Iranian revolutionary guard members from entry

The measures had been a response to rising concern in regards to the IRGC following Iran’s repression of demonstrators protesting the loss of life of Mahsa Amini, killed by so-called morality police for exhibiting her hair.

The IRGC additionally shot down a Ukraine International Airlines flight on Jan. 8, 2020, killing 85 Canadian residents and everlasting residents. In addition, it has equipped Russia with drones used to assault Ukraine.

But the outcomes of Trudeau’s sanctions are unclear. The RCMP mentioned it was nonetheless awaiting its share of the brand new funding to implement them and hoped to start work within the subsequent fiscal 12 months.

The Canada Border Services Agency wouldn’t say what motion it had taken particularly in opposition to these linked to the IRGC however mentioned dozens of people with ties to the Iranian regime had been denied entry to Canada, and 60 circumstances had been beneath investigation.

A “number of cases” will probably be referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada for hearings that would end in deportation, spokesperson Rebecca Purdy mentioned.

But she mentioned no one had but been faraway from Canada on account of the brand new sanctions. And the refugee board mentioned it had no file the federal government had initiated deportation proceedings in opposition to Fakih.

“There seems to be a real mismatch between the government’s rhetoric and its actions,” mentioned Toronto lawyer Kaveh Shehrooz, a senior fellow on the Macdonald-Laurier Institute assume tank.

“There have been several cases now, and it doesn’t seem like the government is taking strong enough action to prevent people from providing logistical and financial support to the Iranian regime.”

Ramin Joubin, a Vancouver lawyer energetic within the group StopIRGC, mentioned Iranian-Canadians had been sending the names of IRGC members in Canada to immigration authorities however had not seen motion.

“The laws against them are rather weak,” he mentioned.

Fakih was born in Kuwait and moved to the U.S. in 1999. He studied business administration in Pennsylvania, and got here to Canada in 2010 as a customer, his immigration data present.

A piece allow issued in 2011 allowed him to take a job in Markham, Ont., and he and his spouse had been accepted as everlasting residents in 2014.

The following 12 months, he included Ipaxiom Solutions, itemizing a residential condo within the Scarborough space of Toronto as its head workplace. He is the one director. Ontario authorities data establish him because the president, secretary and treasurer.

Headquartered in Canada, the corporate has workplaces within the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China, based on Fakih’s indictment.

Fakih is a business marketing consultant with a “diverse client portfolio,” based on his LinkedIn profile. But Ipaxiom’s alleged dealings with one specific consumer caught the eye of the U.S. authorities.

In May 2017, Saber, a British citizen, was approached by an Iranian nationwide named Alireza Taghavi, based on U.S. court docket data.

Taghavi and his affiliate Jalal Rohollahnejad “held themselves out” as representatives of a Tehran firm known as Rayan Roshd Asfzar, U.S. prosecutors alleged.

Rayan Roshd Asfzar “has produced technical components for the IRGC’s unmanned aerial vehicle program and has sought to repair IRGC military equipment,” the U.S. sanctions declare.

The firm additionally “worked to produce software for the IRGC’s aerospace program. Additionally, Rayan Roshd has produced tools that supported IRGC efforts to restrict and block social media and telecommunications content in Iran.”

The U.S. allegations concern a suspected procurement community that tried to purchase elements required to make directed power weapons, which focus beams of power on targets akin to drones, and a second system that may establish and take management of drones.

Per week after the U.S. sanctioned Rayan on July 18, 2017, Taghavi despatched an electronic mail to Saber with an settlement to purchase an industrial microwave system, or IMS, from a U.S. provider for US$450,000, based on the latter’s responsible plea. The value included “re-export charges from Dubai to Iran.”

The proposed marketing consultant settlement was copied to Fakih on July 30, based on the U.S. allegations. The file title of the doc was “ServiceAgreement_Iran.”

Taghavi advised Saber individually he “could not purchase the IMS directly” as a result of he was Iranian, based on the responsible plea, which mentioned Saber agreed to assist for a US$15,000 charge.

The indictment in opposition to Fakih alleges that on Sept. 5, 2017, a US$69,965 switch was made to his account in Canada, adopted by a US$240,000 switch. A 3rd cost of $85,965 allegedly adopted on Sept. 7. The cash was despatched from Dubai and thru Canada “to overcome money laundering issues,” based on Saber’s responsible plea.

The subsequent day, Fakih used his Ipaxiom account to wire the identical quantity to the Massachusetts firm promoting the IMS, the indictment alleges. According to U.S. allegations, the wire switch falsely said it was for “purchasing equipment to start a business.”

Meanwhile, the indictment alleges Fakih and Saber started negotiating to buy counter-drone programs from a Maryland firm in June 2017.

Saber emailed an bill to the Iranian consumer on Aug. 3 and allegedly copied Fakih, requesting a US$20,000 “agent fee” as a result of “the company in Canada is taking a huge risk,” the indictment in opposition to Fakih alleges.

Fakih emailed the corporate promoting the drone system on Oct. 11, saying he “should be able to close the deal shortly,” the indictment alleges. He allegedly emailed once more on Oct. 25 to say “we got verbal go ahead from our client.”

The Iranians by no means despatched the cash to pay for the counter-drone system, based on U.S. officers, and the economic microwave system solely made it so far as Newark, the place it was intercepted.

A grand jury indicted Fakih, Ipaxiom and three alleged associates in 2018, U.S. court docket data present.

The Iranian allegedly behind the plot, Rohollahnejad, was arrested at Nice airport in 2019 on a U.S. extradition warrant. But the French authorities launched him in March 2020 in a prisoner trade that noticed Iran free a French researcher held on espionage expenses.

On the day Rohollahnejad returned house, Iran’s state-controlled press confirmed him arriving on the airport to a hero’s welcome, and portrayed his launch as a victory in opposition to the “illegal sanctions regime” of the U.S.

Filmed subsequent to a portrait of the late IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani, Rohollahnejad was quoted as denouncing the U.S. “false charges” in opposition to him and thanking the IRGC intelligence unit for securing his launch.

The U.S. rebuked France for letting him go.

“There are multiple outstanding U.S. charges against him related to the illegal export of equipment with military applications in violation of U.S. sanctions,” the State Department mentioned.

But on Aug. 5, 2021, the U.S. arrested one other suspect within the case: Saber Fakih.

By then, Bader Fakih’s software for Canadian citizenship, which he filed in 2017, had been suspended by immigration officers.

An investigation was “initiated by a referral from security partners,” based on an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada report, which described the case as a “national security” investigation right into a “threat to Canada.”

Four days after the investigation started, Fakih despatched an electronic mail to MP John McKay’s workplace about his citizenship.

“I am reaching out now as this is beyond comprehension for me as to why it is taking this long,” he wrote.

He adopted up every week later.

“I wanted to reach out to you to see if you were able to hear back and get an update on my citizenship application. Please advise,” he wrote.

“Here you go,” McKay’s workplace responded two hours later in an electronic mail that mentioned “security verifications” had been in progress.

Another electronic mail requesting an replace adopted from McKay’s workplace on Jan. 14, 2022, data present. Two weeks later, the U.S. unsealed its case and introduced that Saber had pleaded responsible and confronted as much as 20 years in jail and a US$1-million tremendous. His lawyer declined to remark.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s safety screening department wrote in a Feb. 28, 2022 report that it had accomplished its investigation. Parts of the “Secret” report had been blacked out earlier than it was filed in court docket.

“The information of concern relates to the violations of the International Emergency Economics Power Act and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions regulations by Mr. Fakih,” the doc reads.

It then summarized the U.S. case, alleging the Iranians had wired $450,000 to the UAE, the place it was transformed from Emirati forex into U.S. {dollars} and transferred to Fakih in three wire transfers.

“Mr. Fakih then transferred the money to the U.S. company for the purchase of the IMS,” CSIS wrote.

He and Saber had additionally “conspired to purchase two counter-drone systems” for the consumers in Tehran, the report added.

“Potential uses of the IMS (with some modification) include high-power microwave based directed-energy weapons systems,” the CSIS official wrote.

The CSIS report famous that the Quds Force, the IRGC department accountable for “exporting the Iranian Revolution,” had been listed as a terrorist group beneath Canadian regulation since 2012.

“Decisions regarding the granting of citizenship rest with your department,” the performing chief of the CSIS safety screening department wrote. “We would appreciate being advised of your final decision.”

Seeking extra info on Fakih, the Citizenship Security Assessment Team (CSAT) at Canada’s Immigration Department wrote to the FBI Assistant Legal Attaché on the U.S. embassy in Ottawa on May 13, 2022.

The FBI responded on June 16, 2022, that Fakih had been indicted within the U.S. for sanctions evasion and “our service remains interested in Bader Fakih’s status in Canada.”

A spokesperson for Canada’s Department of Justice, Geneviève Groulx, declined to say whether or not the U.S. had requested Fakih’s extradition.

“Because extradition requests are confidential state-to-state communications, we cannot comment on the existence of a potential request until made public by the courts,” she mentioned.

The RCMP additionally declined to touch upon the case.

The U.S. has sanctioned Rohollahnejad for “procuring goods on behalf of Rayan Roshd Afzar.”

The Iranian firm didn’t reply to requests for remark. Its web site quotes a speech by Iran’s minister of defence in regards to the position of the defence trade.

“Thank God, in the recent period, despite the sanctions and limited resources, great steps have been taken in strengthening the defence base,” it mentioned.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca