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And while the business was operating, “all five accused men worked together to hide or conceal the truth about what they were doing.”

There was one other part owner of the travel agency, court heard. Klara Kozak was brought into the agency to be the public face of the travel firm, the jury heard, and she was called to the stand as the prosecution’s first witness.

Kozak told the jury about a meeting she had with the accused men in the boardroom of the OPPA’s headquarters in Barrie. She arrived with Chantiam in a limousine.

She made a presentation and there were discussions about the travel of the OPPA and potential profit, she said.

“Who was expected to benefit,” Friesen asked her.

“The owners — all the people in the room,” she said and then named each of the accused men.

The jury was told a paper trail shows that Kozak was given only a small share of the company but appeared to own it all by placing the accused men’s shares in trust.

“The idea was that I would be the person running the agency, managing it, and they would be in the background,” she testified.

I expect the members of the board will testify that this is a conflict of interest

The trust agreements are private documents, masking the identities of the other owners. The jury was shown an email from Chantiam saying the agreements would “protect you and the boys as trust agreements are not public.”