The Canadian government awarded millions worth of contracts to the son of Iran’s former vice-president, despite an ongoing investigation into allegations he helped the Islamic Republic evade sanctions and develop missile systems, documents obtained by Global News reveal.
Since founding two companies in Alberta, an Edmonton resident named “Sal Ghafouri” has received more than $2 million in federal and provincial contracts, including from the RCMP and Department of National Defence, public records show.
The 45-year-old was part of an official Canadian trade mission to Latin America, received a federal business grant and was invited to “propose legislation” to the Alberta government at consultations backed by the province’s economic development minister.
But according to newly released records, Ghafouri is actually Mohammad Reza Ghafouri Fard, an Iranian who has been the subject of a long-running Canadian investigation into his alleged work for Iran’s military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The son of Hassan Ghafouri Fard, an Iranian politician who served as the country’s vice president, Ghafouri was “involved in the research and development of Iranian military technologies,” according to a recently declassified Canadian Security Intelligence Service report.
Before immigrating to Canada in 2013 and going into business as “Sal,” Ghafouri allegedly helped develop a guided anti-aircraft missile system and a jamming tool to “confront American aircraft” for the Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard, or IRGC.
He was also part of a “covert procurement structure” that used a front company in Southeast Asia to purchase components that were needed for Iranian military projects, CSIS alleged in its report detailing his alleged past work for the regime forces.
The allegations concern the four years CSIS alleges Ghafouri worked as an engineer at Iranian company Rabi Kosar, which the report said sold its products to SA Iran, a satellite of the Iranian Ministry of Defence, which in turn provided them to the military and IRGC.
Ghafouri “admitted to active participation in procurement activities that benefited the Iranian military, including the IRGC,” the CSIS Security Screening Branch wrote in its Jan. 13, 2023 report on Ghafouri.
The procurement network was needed because the materials were not available to Iran due to sanctions, but “Ghafouri Fard clearly indicated that he did not care that these activities were prohibited,” CSIS added.
After moving to Alberta through the government’s skilled worker program, Ghafouri returned to Iran in 2015 and met twice with members of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, or MOIS, the CSIS report also said.
“During Mr. Ghafouri Fard’s first meeting with the MOIS, he provided details of his employment in Canada,” according to the CSIS report, marked “secret” but recently made public in court.
“He was asked if he travelled to the U.S. and whether he had contacts with either Canadian or American intelligence services,” added the report, which noted he was a permanent resident of Canada at the time he met the MOIS.
“During the second meeting, he was given detailed instructions and warnings, as they related to police or intelligence services approaching him while living in Canada,” it said.
“He was advised to never travel to the U.S., as he would be of interest to the Federal Bureau of Investigation due to his involvement with Rabi Kosar,” it said, adding he thanked the Iranian agents for the “heads up.”
