A Montreal daycare owner who allegedly extorted thousands of dollars from parents for years will be charged with criminal fraud, our Bureau of Investigation has learned.
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In February, our Bureau of Investigation revealed that Fatima El Boukhari, who was then at the head of the private daycare center Aux coins des ami(e)s, allegedly cheated dozens of parents through a tax scheme.
The director would have maintained, wrongly, that her establishment was subsidized. She would have used the tax credits for childcare expenses in order to enrich herself on the backs of the parents, without their knowledge (see below).
Archive photos, The Journal
Our Investigation Bureau had captured on hidden camera the seductive speech that Fatima El Boukhari delivered to parents who wanted to send their children to her daycare center last winter.
Two charges
In the wake of our report, several parents who felt aggrieved filed a complaint with the police, who investigated.
Fatima El Boukhari – who also presented herself as Haidy Dawah – is now due to appear on September 12 at the Montreal courthouse to face two charges.
He is accused of having “frustrated various people, of a sum of money, of a value exceeding $5,000” by “deception, lying or other deceitful means”, in addition to having made false documents, either requests for prepayment, can we read in the denunciation.
The offenses were allegedly committed between August 2016 and February 2022, in Montreal.
Small claims lawsuit
Fatima El Boukhari is also the subject of a $15,000 small claims lawsuit.
“I am claiming this amount because we have been defrauded,” reads the petition filed in May by Hamza Benrabah.
This father claims to have had to pay some $5,000 in taxes, after sending his son for four months to the daycare center run by Fatima El Boukhari.
He alleges that the latter made him believe that his establishment was subsidized, that she falsified documents filed in his name and without his knowledge with Revenu Québec and that she continued to withdraw sums from his account, even though his child no longer attended daycare.
Revenue Quebec investigators
Like many parents who consider themselves cheated, Mr. Benrabah filed a complaint with the ministry as well as with Revenu Québec, without finding the lost sums. He also met with a tax investigator last September, can we see in a document filed in the file.
According to our information, several parents have also met with investigators from the government agency over the past year, but have not received any follow-up.
Revenu Québec, which according to our sources had carried out a search in the fall of 2021 in the establishment, refused to confirm or deny last week whether an investigation was underway concerning this file.
Daycare tolerated
The Ministry of the Family ordered the closure of the daycare service in February, 48 hours after our Bureau of Investigation questioned it on the questionable management of this establishment.
This is because since its opening in 2012, the daycare center and its leaders – Fatima El Boukhari and her husband, Mohamed Dawah – had been the subject of numerous complaints and found themselves in the crosshairs of the ministry, Revenu Québec and the banks, among others.
Today, the daycare is contesting the notice of revocation of the permit sent by the ministry before the Administrative Tribunal of Québec.
– With Michael Nguyen
The alleged scheme
- Fatima El Boukhari’s daycare wrongly claimed to be subsidized by the state, which allowed it to offer its customers a daily rate of $8.70.
- The woman argued that the state subsidy should pass through the parents’ account before being paid to the daycare, which is false.
- The establishment filled in the name of the parents and without their knowledge an application for advance payment on the tax credit for daycare expenses with Revenu Québec, modifying various information so as to maximize the amount collected. The address on file has also been changed: the parents have therefore not received any communication concerning this request.
- Each month, the parents received their advance payment, believing it to be the subsidy. The daycare entered this amount monthly.
- At the end of the fiscal year, however, Revenu Québec claimed the overpayments from the parents. They were forced to repay the thousands of dollars pocketed by the daycare.