From the Calgary Herald on Friday the 19th:
A Calgary-based company has sued the country’s largest mosque for nearly $4 million in allegedly unpaid bills related to a contract to construct the northeast religious facility.
EllisDon Construction Services Inc. filed the statement of claim earlier this month in an attempt to recover $3,962,671 it claims it is owed, plus $1 million in “damages for interference with contractual and economic relations.”
The construction company says it entered into a written contract in June 2006 to build the 45,000-square foot Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque, completed in late August this year, and that the contract was breached.
Naseer Ahmad, an employee or agent of Ahmadiyya also named as a defendant, is alleged to have interfered with EllisDon’s contractual and economic interests with an an intent to damage its reputation.
EllisDon alleges he “encouraged subcontractors to reduce their billings on the project and to make up the reductions on other projects; issued instructions directly to subcontractors to carry out additional work then refused to pay for the work; advised contractors that delays in payments arose from the contractor’s incompetence or misconduct; and attempted to pursuade the project consultant to rescind approvals and certificates of payments that had already been issued.
If not paid the amount owing, says the claim, a builders’ lien must be placed on the mosque and property and it should be sold to pay off EllisDon.
A spokesperson for Ahmadiyya, based in Toronto, did not immediately return phonecalls on Friday.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. No statement of defence has been filed.
When I was a Qadiani, I used to hear of a lot of fraud, mismanagement, nepotism and skullduggery surrounding the building of Qadiani places of worship, so this comes as no surprise, if true.