The RCMP alleged that transactions made by Samir Chowieri's company involved drug money used to build the Residence de l'Île, but no charges were laid.

The owner of Dorval’s Résidence Herron got his start in the elder care business in 1987 when he built a facility in Gatineau. In 1994, the Résidence de l’Île became the target of an RCMP investigation into money laundering, but no charges were filed in the case.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

The Gatineau facility was also the subject of three reports released last year filed by two Quebec coroners. The coroners probed the deaths of three patients between the ages of 82 and 98. Two of the patients arrived at a hospital severely malnourished, while the other died after staff at the residence failed for hours to notice that her oxygen mask had fallen off her face.

In one case, a coroner noted it took three months for the Résidence de l’Île to supply the deceased’s records.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

“This fact is worrisome as it stains the credibility of the information received,” coroner Francine Danais wrote in her report.

Résidence de l’Île and Résidence Herron are two of seven homes for elderly people owned and managed by Katasa Group Inc., a company that lists Samir Chowieri as its president on Quebec’s business registry.

On June 3, 1994, members of an RCMP Proceeds of Crime unit based in Vanier, Ont. fanned out in Gatineau and Hull and carried out search warrants at three locations, including the offices of the CHO Brothers, a company then run by Samir Chowieri and his brother Elias.

The company began operating in 1987 and was dissolved in 1996, with Samir Chowieri listed as its primary shareholder and president.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

According to an article published in 1994 by Le Droit, a newspaper based in Ottawa, a Quebec Court judge authorized the search based on an affidavit that alleged the RCMP had reason to believe transactions made by the company between Nov. 3, 1982, and June 1994, involved laundered drug money. That included transactions made to build the Residence de l’Île.

Le Droit reported the RCMP used the date in 1982 as the starting point of the documents they sought to seize because it was the day when Samir Chowieri was released from a penitentiary after having served a two-year sentence he received on June 18, 1981, for being part of a drug trafficking conspiracy that took place in Gatineau, Mirabel, Ottawa and Lebanon. Chowieri’s brother received a six-month sentence in the same case.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Less than a year after the RCMP raid, provincial prosecutor Claude Haccoun announced no charges would be filed against Chowieri or his bother. Haccoun told Le Droit there weren’t enough “tangible elements” to file charges in the money laundering investigation.

The same search warrant is referred to in a 2001 Quebec Court judgment in a case where Samir Chowieri, his brother Elias, and their company CHO Brothers Investments were charged in 1997 with having violated Canadian tax laws. While challenging the case, the brothers argued the Canada Revenue Agency investigation was illegal because it was based entirely on documents the RCMP seized in 1994. The judge’s decision notes the Chowieri brothers did “not challenge the validity of the warrant obtained by the RCMP in June of 1994 nor the extent of the seizure done under the authority of that search warrant.”

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

An RCMP investigator named Dave Wilson, a member of the Proceeds of Crime Section, was called to testify as part of the motion filed by Samir Chowieri. According to the 58-page decision rejecting the motion, Wilson testified the “investigation was started by the RCMP against the Chowieris in July 1992. It was a proceed of crime investigation (organized crime involved in fraud) and an attempt to link money to drug trafficking, and to explain how the money had been invested in the company in the first place.”

The decision notes the RCMP seized business records, ledgers and cassette recordings from Samir Chowieri’s office on June 3, 1994. They seized the cassettes based on a tip that Chowieri was illiterate and recorded his business meetings because he was unable to take notes. At least one of the recordings referred to Residence de l’Île. A CRA investigator testified that specific recording steered the tax evasion investigation.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

The CRA case dragged through the courts for years. Quebec Court Judge Pierre Chevalier rejected Samir Chowieri’s motion in 2001. But in 2002, a judge at the Hull courthouse agreed to place a stay of proceedings on all of the charges filed against the Chowieri brothers and their company.

Eight months after the RCMP carried out the search warrants at the CHO Brothers offices in 1994, the Sûreté du Québec carried out a series of similar searches at the home of Constance Provost, then the mayor of Aylmer, and Aylmer’s city hall.

While listening to wiretaps in another investigation, the SQ alleged Provost used a condominium in West Palm Beach, Fla., offered to her by Samir Chowieri. On Nov. 17, 1995, she was charged with breach of trust.

Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

When she pleaded guilty to the charge at the Hull courthouse in 1998, she admitted she used the condo owned by a notary who was friends with Chowieri. She was sentenced to an absolute discharge, apparently because the investigation failed to prove whether Chowieri benefited from the gift he offered to her.

Katasa Groupe Inc. did not reply to an email sent by The Montreal Gazette seeking comment from Samir Chowieri for this article.

Note to readers: We know the speed and volume of coronavirus-related news is overwhelming and a little frightening. To help with that, we will dedicate a Montreal Gazette reporter each day to devote their time to synthesizing the most important coronavirus-related news, especially as it relates to life in Montreal and Quebec. We know the speed and volume of coronavirus-related news is overwhelming and a little frightening. To help with that, we will dedicate a Montreal Gazette reporter each day to devote their time to synthesizing the most important coronavirus-related news, especially as it relates to life in Montreal and Quebec. Follow the updates for April 14 right here. All our coronavirus-related news can always be found here: montrealgazette.com/tag/coronavirus