THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023 TRICITYNEWS.COM
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COQUITLAM City begins planning its transportation future PAGE 7
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Billing ‘scheme’ sparks School District lawsuit
N E W D I R E C T O R AT P O M O M U S E U M
DIANE STRANDBERG dstrandberg@tricitynews.com
MARIO BARTEL/TRI-CITY NEWS
One of the goals of the new executive director of POMO Museum, Farmer Chomitz, is to make the old train station where it’s located more accessible. Chomitz is on the autism spectrum and has an assistance dog, Ianto, to help them navigate their own challenges. See the story on Page 11.
School District 43 (SD43) has launched a civil suit against a former facilities manager in the hope of recouping $113,400 in losses from an alleged fraudulent purchasing scheme. In the lawsuit filed in the Victoria registry of Supreme Court on July 6, SD43 alleges that Rizwan Shawl and Maurizio Niro of NGC Supplies “embarked upon a fraudulent scheme to misappropriate funds” from the school district, which serves Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody. According to the suit, Shawl or Niro created false invoices for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems purportedly sold to two elementary
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schools but not delivered. Shawl, who worked as a maintenance manager in the district’s facilities department from July 1, 2020, to May 13, 2022, allegedly signed off the invoices, which were paid for by SD43. In a statement of facts, SD3 claims that around May 14, 2020, Shawl initiated a service request for an HVAC system for Leigh Elementary, a Coquitlam school. Shawl, whose purchase authority was limited to $15,000, did not follow purchase order protocols, according to the claim. He allegedly created “fraudulent documentation” see SD43, page 3