Divvying up Claude Caza’s ill-gotten gains

SEAN MCKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT— In an effort to make sure that crime doesn’t pay, authorities have ordered convicted drug dealer Claude Caza to forfeit some of his properties to pay restitution to the Crown and to three insurance companies that he defrauded.

In a deal worked out between Crown and defence lawyers, Caza was to have forfeited his old Snack property, the Candy Store and building 3100.

The Crown alleged that Caza had a fire set in the old Snack building behind T-1, and then collected a total of $170,000 in insurance money from Ecclesiastical Insurance Co., Boreal Pacific Co., and Sovereign General Assurance.

Authorities went forward with a fraud charge instead of arson because arson isn’t covered by federal proceeds of crime legislation, RCMP Sgt. Glen Siegersma said.

Although the penalty for an arson conviction have been more serious, the Crown would have been unable to have the property sold to cover restitution payments to the three companies.

“It’s a major hole in the legislation,” a Siegersma said. For some reason federal legislators overlooked arson in framing the law which allows authorities to confiscate the assets of convicted criminals.

Details regarding the disposal of the properties still have to be worked out however. The Royal Bank holds a mortgage on one property and Caza’s lawyer, Pierre Morneau, told the court that the insurance companies his client defrauded had launched a separate civil suit.

Morneau also said in court that the GST branch of Revenue Canada wants money from Caza on an unrelated matter and would like to have any of the leftover proceeds from the sale of the properties.

“It’s going to cost him closer to $700,000,” said Morneau.