Committee orders audit to probe campaign finances of former mayoral candidate Khalil Ramal

Members of the Compliance Audit Committee had lots of questions for 2022 runner-up for mayor Khalil Ramal, regarding his campaign finances.

On Wednesday, a lengthy back and forth between the three-member committee and Ramal focussed on the concerns raised in a formal complaint filed on June 29.

“I did follow the rules and regulations. If my [Chief Financial Officer] made a mistake, I corrected them all,” asserted Ramal, who attended via videoconference.

The complaint alleged:

• 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 exceeded $25 limit

Ramal committed to get the missing donor information, claimed he wrote a cheque in April (five months after the election) returning the $295 overage to the donor, used a free trial for internet charges, and did not incur telephone expenses.

However, when pressed by the committee, he couldn’t say if/when the $295 cheque was cashed by the donor.

Several times during the meeting, members of the committee grew frustrated with Ramal’s rambling responses.

At one point, committee member Andrew Wright pressed Ramal about the auditor’s report submitted as part of the campaign finances filed with the clerk’s office.

The audit report was a single paragraph emailed to Ramal on the same day he filed his campaign finances.

“The audit report that you submitted with your financial statement wasn't signed by anybody,” noted Wright.

Ramal responded, “It was signed. It wasn't signed? It was signed.”

So, Wright asked Ramal, “Have you got a signed copy of that [audit report]?”

“I signed it. [The auditor] signed it,” replied Ramal, before asking for time to review his documents.

The document includes the name of a Woodbridge-based Chartered Professional Accountant typed at the bottom-- but not a signature.

Wright then asked again if Ramal had a signed copy of an audit report, or simply the version submitted to the clerk’s office, “What's attached to the financial statement-- is [that] what you got?”

“Yes sir,” admitted Ramal, who then offered to obtain a signature if that would satisfy the committee.

At another time during the meeting, Ramal freely admitted to paying off the $32,786.63 deficit incurred by his mayoral campaign, despite knowing the maximum donation he (and his spouse) could make to the campaign was $25,000.

“I'll be over-contributing to my account by about $10,000, or $8,000, something like this,” he said. “So what are the rules and regulations on this?”

After deliberating behind closed doors, the committee ordered a compliance audit be conducted of Ramal’s campaign finances.

The city clerk will provide a list of qualified auditors at an upcoming meeting.

“The committee will make a decision on which auditor to use to conduct the compliance audit, and then the results of that audit will come back to the committee,” explained Deputy Clerk Sarah Corman.

Based on the findings of that compliance audit, the committee will then determine if the complaint against Ramal is dropped, or if it will be referred to the courts.

Ramal received 23 per cent of the votes cast for mayor in 2022, finishing a distant second-place to Josh Morgan who received support from 66 per cent of voters.