London mayoral candidate violated Elections Act: auditor

Former London mayoral candidate Khalil Ramal could soon have his campaign finances at the centre of potential legal action. CTV`s Daryl Newcombe explains.

Two-and-a-half years after finishing second in the race for the mayor’s office, former candidate Khalil Ramal could soon have his campaign finances referred to the courts for potential legal action.

In August 2023, the Election Compliance Audit Committee launched an audit of Ramal’s financial documents after a complaint was filed with city hall.

The results of that investigation were released on Monday.

“The Candidate did not file a true and correct Financial Statement,” the report by auditor William Molson concludes. “And hence contravened the Municipal Elections Act.”

Even though Ramal’s previous experience as a candidate in provincial and federal elections included support from political parties, Molson’s audit suggests he should know known better.

The report reads, “…it may reasonably be held that the Candidate knew or ought to have known about the particular record-keeping and reporting requirements.”

The initial complaint challenged several aspects of the campaign finances submitted to the city clerk by Ramal:

• A list of financial donations over $100 failed to include the mailing address and/or name of contributor
• A contribution for $1,495 exceeded the $1,200 limit
• No expenses were declared for telephone, internet or website hosting fees
• Expenses of $2,034 and $339 for ‘steel’ should be subject to the spending limit
• Other ‘revenue not deemed a contribution’ lists ‘3x50’ worth $150, which would exceed $25 limit

Molson’s examination of documents, plus telephone and written exchanges with Ramal during the audit process confirmed the violations.

It also uncovered that the mandatory audit statement included with the campaign’s financial form was invalid.

The unsigned statement that confirmed the accuracy of his filing has the name “Salah Hassan CPA” typed at the bottom of the page.

The compliance audit eventually contacted Hassan and determined he wasn’t a licensed accountant at the time, “The Financial Statement filed by Ramal on March 31, 2023 indicates that an auditor’s report by Salah Hassan (“Hassan”) is attached, and cites a licence number. Firms and Licensing management of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario has advised me that Hassan did not hold a license at March 31, 2022 or March 31, 2023.”

Molson adds, “My conclusion is that Hassan did not retain audit working papers relating to Ramal’s Financial Statement, and may not have performed an audit thereof.”

The compliance audit also cites a CTV News story from August, 2023 when Ramal admitted to the committee that he expected to exceed the candidate contribution limit because he paid some outstanding campaign expenses from his personal finances.

“I’ll be overcontributing to my accounts by probably $10,000 or $8,000, something like this, so what’s, what’s the rules and regulations on this?” Ramal stated to the committee at the time.

The recently completed audit has calculated, “Ramal exceeded his permitted contribution limit of $25,000.00 by $11,916.27.”

In an interview with CTV News in August, 2023 Ramal accepted responsibility for his campaign’s finances, “A bunch of volunteers come forward, sometimes they don’t know (the) exact rules and regulations. I guess I (was) the candidate and should be responsible for everything, but we did our best.”

On May 28, the Compliance Audit Committee will reconvene at city hall to consider whether legal proceedings should be commenced in the courts.

Penalties for violating the Municipal Elections Act could include:

• Up to $25,000 fine
• ineligibility to vote or run in next election
• up to six months in prison
• forfeiture of your elected office
• additional fine (amount spending limit exceeded)

CTV News has requested an interview with Ramal about the audit findings — but has yet to receive a reply.