Manzoor Khan—filling his pockets

It is very important to focus on the multiple ways that Manzoor Khan and Channel Property Management stole money from the condo corporations that he managed.

This is far more important than the $20 million loan bylaw scandal because the $20 million scam was a once-ever con while Manzoor's day-by-day stealing is far more common in condominiums than is generally realized and is done by many property management companies, individual managers and directors.

The majority of them have not been caught and when they have been, criminal charges are rarely laid.

Manzoor's commitment
Manzoor claimed that when he bid on contracts, he charged his actual expenses plus 5% for his profit. Only 5%? That in itself should have set off alarm bells.

There are management companies that will bid unrealistic low fees in order to win the contract as they plan to make their profits by other means. Channel almost always came in with the lowest-cost bid.

Filling his pockets
Here are some of the ways that Khan made money and these scams are used by other property management companies, directors and individual managers.

Energy re-sellers
Some of these companies offer commissions and fees for steering business their way. These commissions/fees are not disclosed to the condo corporation.

The price for the natural gas may be fixed but service and administration costs are not fixed costs.

Smart meters
The board buys into smart meters because downloading the cost of electricity onto the individual owners is the equivalent of a hike in common element fees.

The owners are told that they will save money as they will not help pay for the owners who are electrical hogs.

Smart meters has little to do with conservation and a more to do with undisclosed commissions to whoever arranges the contract and there are long term costs to the individual condo owners.

They will also find that their new electrical supplier is very quick to levy fines for late payments and in turning off their power.

If a unit gets its electricity cut-off, you may see an electrical cord running from a hallway receptacle into the affected unit

Kickbacks from contractors
This is the most common scam in the industry. The bids are all close in price but one company, the one that management recommends, is always lower.

How real were the other bids? The directors and owners never check.

The kickbacks may not just be from the building trades but also from the cleaning, garbage disposal and landscaping companies.

Overcharge for supplies
Overcharging for materials and supplies was one of Khan's tricks. He billed one condo double his actual cost for the ceramic tiles he bought.

Failing to declare discounts
Suppliers give contractors discounts when they buy materials. The contractor is given a receipt to show the customer but the contractor's 20% rebate is given to the contractor on a separate credit for future purchases. That credit, the customer does not see.

In-house suppliers
Khan owned dummy companies that would bid and win work from the condos he managed. These dummy companies would then contract out the work to legitimate companies who would do the job at far lower costs than what Khan charged the condo corporation.

Paying for work not done
Very few directors have a clue about the mechanical systems so the contractors can replace failing equipment with used replacements and the contractors can claim to have replaced parts when they just cleaned the dirt and dust off of the existing ones.

Khan would submit invoices and the cheques would be signed.

Inferior materials
The condo pays for quality supplies and materials but the purchased goods wear out prematurely.

Negotiating loans
There are commissions available here too. Sometimes the broker will offer the contact person a set amount and sometimes there is a 50/50 split on any savings. The broker and the person arranging the loan split "their" share of the savings.

Then there is the additional kickbacks from the contractors who are awarded the contracts that the loans made possible.

Manzoor was a self-styled expert in arranging condo loans; of that there is
little doubt.

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