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“It is certainly suspicious that there is a vehicle fire a short distance away,” said Baker of a small, white SUV that was burned. “There’s a strong suspicion they may be connected.

“It would be a very valid way to destroy evidence, absolutely. That doesn’t mean it’s connected to this shooting.”

Targeted attacks can have many motives: personal, professional, domestic, racial, political and others.

In popular lore they are usually associated with organized crime, where mobsters target rivals or those who have crossed them, but they are frequently fueled by less flamboyant reasons.

Mamdani is known as a bold and bright businessman. He received a pharmacy degree and a law degree before focusing on business. His wealth gives him the opportunity to share, as he has in philanthropic ventures, but also created disputes.

Mamdani came to Canada from Uganda with his family as refugees in 1973 when he was a small child, he told reporters last year when he was offering to help in the resettlement of Syrian refugees to Calgary.

A search of court records shows more than three dozen lawsuits involving Mamdani have been filed since 1993.

He is named as a defendant in two class action lawsuits, one of which claims $10 million in damages, and another in which investors claim they lost $200 million, which was certified last year.

The $10-million claim, filed in June 2014, alleges Mamdani was involved in an investment deal in which investors in Alberta, Ontario and B.C. agreed to purchase a parcel of land through two Platinum Lands corporation.

Their claim states the investors raised $6.4 million to fund the purchases from SSAM Land Corp.

However, it says SSAM, for which Mamdani was the directing mind, claimed the transaction was never closed because it had only received $5.7 million from the Platinum companies, controlled by defendant Shariff Chandran.

“At all relevant times, Mr. Chandran and Mr. Mamdani were close and long-term business partners in the real estate business in Alberta,” it says.

The lawsuit alleges the two parties conspired to collect the investors’ money “and then … wrongfully take the investor funds for their own personal benefit.”

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In the certified class action lawsuit individuals, including Mamdani, and companies associated with the Platinum Group have been sued over allegations of misused investments.

About 2,200 investors lost an estimated $200 million buying limited partnership units or trust units that invested in commercial real estate entities that operated and were heavily marketed in print and on radio and television between 2002 and 2012.

Strategic Group describes itself as “a fully integrated property owner, manager and developer of real estate as well as an investment company with a portfolio and subsidiaries spanning a variety of industries in North America including technology, oil and gas, telco, and construction.”