B.C. government wants to keep $1 million found after rental car crash

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The B.C. government wants to keep more than $1 million found after an Edmonton man crashed his rental car near Clearwater in May.

But driver Mohamad Samed Roumiah is fighting back, saying that he was transporting the large amount of cash as part of his duties for an Ontario company called Green Zone Finance.

Roumiah was driving on Highway 5 close to Clearwater on May 26, when his rental car collided with another vehicle. He was injured and taken to hospital.

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“The RCMP located a broken red suitcase near the collision site,” the B.C. director of civil forfeiture said in his lawsuit. “The suitcase contained the money. The money was not packaged in accordance with standard banking practices.”

The cash, which totalled $1,012,790 was in shopping bags and of varying denominations bundled with rubber bands and “with alternate-facing bills.”

Police seized the money, which later tested positive for cocaine contamination.

The director says in the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 20, that the cash should be forfeited because it comes from unlawful activity, including possession for the purpose of trafficking and trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime, laundering the proceeds of crime and failure to declare taxable income.

Roumiah filed his first statement of defence on Sept. 12, claiming that “he was in the regular course of his employment” when the accident happened. The court document did not state what his job was or name his employer.

“The defendant has no knowledge of the packaging of the money or any alleged connection to unlawful activities,” said the Sept. 12 response filed by Edmonton lawyer Tariq Salloum.

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“The defendant asserts that he was engaged in lawful activities and was acting within the scope of his regular employment at the time of the incident.”

Salloum filed an amended response on behalf of Roumiah last week, adding in a paragraph about the employer.

“The defendant asserts that the money was in his lawful possession as part of his role in transporting funds for Green Zone Finance Inc., an Ontario-based corporation, at the time of the motor vehicle accident. The defendant was acting within the scope of his duties with no evidence linking the money to unlawful activity.”

Both the initial and amended responses say the government has not provided “sufficient evidence” of any link to criminality. The Ion Mobility Spectrometry testing that found cocaine residue doesn’t prove unlawful activity, the response said.

“Such contamination is widely acknowledged to occur in general circulation of currency, and cannot conclusively link the money to drug trafficking or related defences.”

Postmedia called Green Zone, which is in Mississauga. A person answering the phone confirmed Roumiah is an employee.

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Asked about the $1 million found, the man said it came from “a client in Alberta who deposited money at our representatives in Alberta and this money accumulated.”

He said the money was then given to Roumiah in the course of his duties to transport to another location in B.C.

Asked for more details about where the money was headed and whether this was the normal process for moving funds, the Green Zone person referred questions to Salloum, the Edmonton lawyer.

But Salloum did not respond to specific questions emailed to him.

“We have no comment to make with respect to this matter,” he said.

kbolan@postmedia.com

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