Gohar (Carmen) Ahmed Pervez received two-for-one credit for the two years he has served in the remand centre and is now slated to spend two more years

Gohar (Carmen) Ahmed Pervez, 45, pleaded guilty to 54 counts of fraud that netted him more than $1.8 million in profit in less than five years. He received two-for-one credit for the two years he has served in the remand centre and is now slated to spend two more years behind bars.
"In the hierarchy of this fraudulent scheme, no one was above him," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Paul Belzil said Thursday afternoon.
His role was pivotal. At every stage of this scheme, Mr. Pervez was the primary beneficiary."
According to an agreed statement of facts at least two inches thick, Pervez directed the mortgage brokers, bankers, appraisers, realtors and lawyers who helped perpetrate the fraud. He paid all the expenses, recruited the people who found and paid straw buyers, forged documents, lied to get mortgages, found tenants for the rundown houses and collected rent money.
In total, his mortgage racket put more than $4.9 million at risk, and in the end 11 financial institutions lost $594,000. Dozens of straw buyers were duped into taking part in the scheme, and some are now embroiled in lawsuits and struggling financially.
Pervez strode into the courtroom dressed in his blue prison coveralls, carrying a pile of documents in the crook of his arm. He ground his teeth when Belzil sentenced him, but showed no other emotion.
His lawyer told the court that guilty pleas often convey remorse, but he did not suggest that Pervez was in fact remorseful.
Pervez was the leader of six Edmontonians charged in connection with the scam, which took place between 2001 and 2005 and involved more than 19 lending institutions, 125 properties and 280 real estate transactions.
While he did not plead guilty to participating in a criminal organization, he admitted in the agreed statement of facts that he was part of a criminal organization and committed the fraud for the benefit of the group, his co-conspirators and himself.
Three men and one woman had previously been sentenced in connection with the fraud.
Pedro Brito, 33, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud and was sentenced to one year in jail. Harkamaljit Kahlon, 30, was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud. Rodrigo Caroca, 33, pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
In January, paralegal Terry Ellis, 61, was sentenced to more than five years in prison after she was convicted of 12 counts of fraud and one count of forgery. She is believed to be the first Canadian convicted of committing an economic fraud on behalf of a criminal organization.
A trial for Edmonton lawyer Scott Park is scheduled to begin in April.
On Thursday, Belzil adopted the joint sentencing submission presented by Crown prosecutors Michelle Doyle, Orest Yereniuk and Cheryl Schlecker and defence lawyers Robbie Davidson and Jake Chadi.
In her submission to the court, Doyle said the sentence is a stiff one that will deter Pervez and others who might be tempted to commit similar frauds. She also said the sentence will reassure law-abiding citizens that crime does not pay.

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Friday, February 24, 2006
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