OTTAWA: A judge has returned almost $40,000 that was seized as part of an 18-month Ottawa police investigation to the parents of a convicted drug dealer sentenced to 12 years in prison. Aissa El-Zein pleaded guilty on Sept. 3, 2014 to seven gun, drug-trafficking and gang-related offences arising from an 18-month investigation dubbed Project Sleepwalker.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger wrote in a decision released Monday that he believes that El-Zein’s parents, Salma and Ibrahim, had saved the $39,680 found by police hidden in a comforter and in a bedroom closet at their home on Séguin Street. “It is possible for people who live modestly to slowly put aside several thousands of dollars over the course of many years,” Maranger wrote in his decision. “That is exactly what Salma El-Zein testified she did.”
Defence lawyer James Foord argued that the money was saved over the years by El-Zein’s parents who are not involved in the drug trade.
El-Zein’s father testified that he worked in the pastry industry, and eventually opened his own business. He has given his wife money weekly or monthly over the past 33 years since they moved from Lebanon. Salma El-Zein used some of that money for groceries and other necessities, while saving as much as she could in her bedroom.
The federal crown had argued that the money should be considered proceeds of crime from their son’s drug trafficking business and it was impossible for them to save that amount of money given their financial situation.
El-Zein went to his parents’ house frequently after short meetings at a stash house, sometimes carrying bags, the decision said. El-Zein’s parents testified that their son came home to get his laundry done and for home-cooked meals.
Maranger wrote that while he agreed with the crown that circumstantial evidence could support the theory that the money was the proceeds of crime, he noted that the testimony of El-Zein’s parents is just as compelling.
“To accept the Crown’s position and find that the monies are proceeds of crime on a balance of probabilities would necessitate rejecting the testimony of both Mr. and Mrs. El-Zein, who are both credible witnesses,” Maranger wrote.
El-Zein had already consented at the time of his conviction to forfeit various items from properties at 741 Borthwick Ave. and a drug stash house 1396 Ogilvie Rd., including $350,000 worth of drugs and guns and $15,000 in cash.
