Daycare Owner Flees to Morocco, Leaving Trail of Million-Dollar Fraud

Last January, Fatima El Boukhari, 50, was sentenced to one year in prison for defrauding, from 2016 to 2022, nine families who had entrusted their children to her daycare in Montreal, Aux coins des ami(e)s, on Hochelaga Street. "All the parents thought that the childcare costs would be $8 per day, and that the government would pay the balance [which amounted to $48 per day]," the judge had explained during the verdict. The fraudster produced false tax credit applications in the parents’ names, while providing false information to ensure that they could not discover the deception. The damage from the fraud amounts to about $70,000. The judge had also ordered her to compensate her victims by paying them $70,000.

The fraudster, who did not expect this verdict, is contesting her guilt. She managed to regain her release under certain conditions, pending the appeal proceedings. Fatima had in particular the obligation to remain at a specific address, in the Saint-Léonard district of Montreal. However, the fifty-year-old instead left the country last May to go to Morocco, the Crown prosecutor in the case, Sarah-Audrey Daigneault, said on Thursday morning before the Court of Appeal. She therefore no longer appeared before the court for the continuation of the proceedings in another case.

"In this case, the federal Crown alleges that El Boukhari defrauded various banking institutions for $695,000, the federal tax authorities for $538,000, and Revenu Québec for $643,000," reports Le Journal de Montréal. According to the federal prosecutor in this case, Frédérick Carle, El Boukhari would have "voluntarily fled justice" and "transferred significant sums" of money to Morocco. However, he did not specify the total amount. Since June, the fraudster has been the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Montreal court. According to her lawyer, she was on "vacation" and was supposed to return to the country on August 1st last.

However, she is still in Morocco, where she plans to stay until December to take care of her mother, she informed the Court of Appeal. This prompted the Crown to file a motion to revoke her conditional release. The Court of Appeal ruled in favor of this motion. Fatima now has 72 hours to surrender and serve her sentence. However, this is unlikely to happen. According to lawyer Sarah-Audrey Daigneault, there is no extradition treaty between Canada and Morocco.