Four, including three brothers, charged in alleged Ontario solar farm construction fraud

Provincial police say three brothers are among those facing charges in a multimillion-dollar fraud involving three government-funded solar energy projects across the province.

Det. Const. John Armit says the alleged fraud, believed to have taken place in 2012 and 2013, involved a family-run construction company refusing to pay subcontractors involved in the solar projects.

Armit declined to estimate the value of the alleged fraud, but a current member of the Ontario legislature pegged the total amount at roughly $21 million.

Armit says the charges centre on a company known as Clarida Construction, which he says ceased operations in 2013.

He says Bruce, Bradley and Keith Clarida, as well as former company financial controller David Wood, are now each charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of false pretence or statement.

The four men are due to appear in a Milton, Ont. courtroom on Jan. 27.

Armit said the solar projects, which were being funded by a green energy program implemented by the previous Liberal government, were located in various parts of the province. The three solar farms were due to be built in Lanark County near Ottawa, as well as near Odessa, Ont. and Temiskaming Shores, Ont.

Armit said Clarida Construction was based in Sault Ste. Marie,. Ont., though some of the men now facing charges have since relocated.

When raising the matter before the Ontario legislature in July 2014, NDP legislator John Vanthof said the projects were initially welcomed by the communities where they were supposed to take shape.

According to a transcript of his remarks, the NDP legislator said the three solar wind farms were to be sold to TransCanada once completed.

“When Clarida failed to pay the local contractors, the project touted as an economic boom turned into a nightmare,” Vanthof said at the time, estimating that the unpaid bills totalled $21.3 million.