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Winnipeg
man is among more than a dozen Canadians who claim they were
swindled into buying a phoney franchise.
Hisham
Alard, an Island Lakes resident, came to Canada from Syria
in the spring of 2004 with his wife and three children.
An
entrepreneur, he and his wife Kinda wanted to set up a
business, and thought they had struck gold when they bought
a Pizza One franchise in October 2004. They were given a
plum location in the booming retail area at Kenaston and
McGillivray boulevards.
"It seemed
like something perfect. Everything I was asking for they
were doing," said Alard. "They seemed very helpful,
co-operative, successful. I went to Toronto to a very fancy
office. They had secretaries and employees and everything."
Alard was
shown a Pizza One location there and told it was one of
several. He later found out it was the only one.
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Kinda
and Alard paid $50K before
discovering the
franchise was a fraud,
Hisham says.
(Brian Donogh, Sun
media)
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By then,
however, Alard had already invested $50,000 -- his life
savings and that of his father-in-law -- and arranged
financing for a further $150,000 to cover the full franchise
fee.
"Where I
came from, $50,000 is not a fortune, it's a tremendous
fortune," he said.
Everything
was rolling along smoothly until Alard discovered his
location had yet to be leased from the developer.
He began
calling Toronto to speak with the franchiser -- Reza
(Anthony) Solhi -- but was told he was busy or unavailable.
Alard
became suspicious, and those suspicions were confirmed when,
in May 2005, a former employee of Solhi's called Hisham and
others and alleged their restaurants would never see the
light of day.
Solhi, it
turned out, had been charged by Toronto police in 2004 with
25 counts of fraud involving a franchise called 3-for-1
Pizza. A year later, the government dropped the charges
against Solhi in exchange for paying $500,000 to some of the
victimized franchisees.
"The whole
picture became clear," said Alard. "I tried to pull out but
of course there was no way.
"Later I
found out it's not only me. There is a group of about 15
people, most of whom are new immigrants to Canada."
Police in
both Winnipeg and Ontario's York Region, where the Pizza One
head office was located, have confirmed Alard is one of
several people who have made complaints about Solhi since
the 3-for-1 settlement.
INVESTIGATION
York Region
Police have now passed the investigation on to the federal
Competition Bureau of Canada. A spokeswoman for the bureau
would not comment on the case, but did confirm to the
Winnipeg Sun that Solhi is the subject of an ongoing
investigation.
No criminal
charges have been laid against Solhi in relation to Pizza
One, or his other franchises Pizza Uno or Anthony's Kitchen,
although several civil judgments have been granted to
franchisees who lost money.
The Sun
attempted to reach both Solhi and a business partner of his
for this story but was unsuccessful.
Toronto
resident Nidhi Malik, another failed franchisee, has
organized a group of franchise victims for a two-pronged
battle: Recover money and lobby for stricter franchise laws.
"I thought
that as a single case I'd be seen as a bad businessperson
who got into a bad situation, but in a group we'd be seen as
victims of fraud," she said.
Malik said
she located 12 to 15 people besides the 3-for-1 group who
say Solhi has victimized them. She claims that group has
collectively lost about $1 million.
"There are
plenty of judgments against him already, but he doesn't
honour them," said Malik.
Her group
is now focusing on trying to enforce some of the existing
judgments rather than starting new lawsuits, as well as
lobbying for tougher franchise laws.
Back in
Winnipeg, Alard is watching to see how everything shakes
down, working toward someday recovering his money, and
helping in the efforts to stiffen laws so no one else has to
go through what he did.
"You just
can't imagine," he said.
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