$47.4 million fraud, a former bureaucrat has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Having been charged with misappropriation of public funds, a former bureaucrat has confessed to committing theft of $47.4 million from the government of Ontario.

Sanjay Madan was sentenced to ten years in prison by a judge on Tuesday based on a joint submission from the defence and the Crown, as reported by the Ministry of the Attorney General.

He had been charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000 and two counts of breach of trust for allegedly embezzling almost $11 million in COVID-19 relief funds

As per the ministry’s statement, Sanjay Madan admitted to pilfering more than $36 million from the government in the form of kickbacks between 2011 and 2020.

In addition, the province had filed a lawsuit against Madan, his spouse, and two grown-up children, claiming that they unlawfully disbursed and cashed cheques intended to cover the expenses of children’s education during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.

Madan held a senior IT position and played a part in creating a computer program related to a COVID-19 relief benefit before being dismissed in 2020. His wife and two sons were all employed by the government in information technology roles.