PEEL Regional Police investigators from the Fraud Bureau announced on Tuesday that a man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for alleged fraud has been arrested.

In 2013, Fraud Bureau investigators uncovered a scheme in which two men approached businesses and convinced them that they had access to a large amount of investment money. They claimed the source of these funds was the royal family of the United Arab Emirates. The victim companies, which were from Canada, the United States and India, would pay due diligence or advance fees in order to get approval for large loans to run their businesses. The losses to the businesses were in excess of $3 million.

In 2013, investigators arrested and charged a 50-year-old male,  Hari Venkatacharya, with three counts of forgery and one count of defraud the public. A Canada-wide warrant was issued for a second man, 52-year-old Dale Maharaj.

On Sunday (November 11), Maharaj was arrested at Toronto Pearson International Airport as he arrived on a flight from Trinidad. He appeared in the Ontario Court of Justice on November 12 for a bail hearing in answer to the charge of defraud the public.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the investigators in the Fraud Bureau at (905) 453–2121, ext. 3335.  Information may also be left anonymously by calling Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or by visiting peelcrimestoppers.ca.