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04-22-2007, 08:35 PM
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Infolink Technologies Killer Ceo Cesar Correia
CEO's killer past comes back to haunt him
Cesar Correia of Toronto's Infolink bulk-messaging company beat his abusive father to death in 1984. He served a brief sentence and then was pardoned. Now, as PAUL WALDIE reports, a former business partner is demanding he disclose his past to investors. Is what he did 20 years ago relevant to his business today? PAUL WALDIE May 29, 2004 To most investors in his company, Cesar Correia looks like an up-and-coming entrepreneur. Mr. Correia, 44, co-founded and runs Infolink Technologies Ltd., a Toronto-based company that specializes in sending messages in bulk by fax, voice mail and e-mail. Infolink trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and it has become a popular service for political parties and marketing firms. But many shareholders don't know that, 20 years ago, Mr. Correia picked up a baseball bat and smashed his father's head while he was fixing the family car at their home in Winnipeg. As Joachim Correia went down, his son hit him three more times. Then he got a smaller bat and hit him again. Mr. Correia wrapped his father in a carpet, put a plastic bag over his head and dumped him in the Assiniboine River. The next day, he and his mother reported Joachim missing and even called on the media to help find him. Before long, the body was found, and Mr. Correia confessed. He eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a five-year sentence. During sentencing, the judge said Joachim had been so abusive toward Mr. Correia, his brother and mother that life in the Correia home "was a living hell." But some relatives, including Joachim's brother, were furious at the sentence and called it "a licence to kill." They said Joachim was a good, hard-working man who feared that his son was plotting to kill him. Mr. Correia served 10 months in jail, finished his university degree in computer science and headed to Toronto. He has never revealed his conviction publicly, and management profiles filed by the company with securities regulators make no mention of the killing. Mr. Correia told The Globe and Mail that he doesn't have to disclose the conviction because he received a pardon in 1996, and the crime has no bearing on his role at Infolink. "It happened in 1984 and then everything else has been going forward in my life," he said. "I don't see how that has anything to do with the work that I do today. I could see if it was a fraud that happened, or something like that -- then I shouldn't even be in a public company. But that's not the case, is it?" His former partner disagrees. George Theodore, who co-founded Infolink in 1999 and remains a major shareholder, said he didn't know about the conviction until last year and quit the company as a result. He is convinced Infolink lost at least two business deals because potential partners found out about the conviction and backed out. Mr. Theodore said shareholders have a right to full information and the conviction and pardon should be disclosed. This month, he sent a letter to the company's board and the Ontario Securities Commission expressing concern about the issue and other alleged problems at Infolink. Mr. Correia denies the allegations and said Mr. Theodore is a disgruntled former partner who is trying to oust him as CEO. Two companies involved in failed deals with Infolink told The Globe that they found out about Mr. Correia's past, but they said it was not a factor in their decision. If they did know the story, investors, like the judge in the case, might be swayed by the circumstances. Mr. Correia told the court that his father abused his mother continually and threatened to kill her. His mother, Lucilia, testified that she was terrified of her husband. "I cannot think of one day in the last three years that I haven't ended up crying because of his treatment of me," she told the court. The judge ruled that Joachim was a cruel, abusive man. "I have no difficulty in concluding it instilled in the heart and mind of the accused a sense of devastation, desperation and frustration, which was consummated in a burning hatred for his father," he said, according to media reports at the time. However, the OSC requires all directors and officers of public companies to disclose criminal convictions and "any other penalties or sanctions imposed by a court or regulatory body that would likely be considered important to a reasonable investor in making an investment decision." Continued on Page 2… Page 1 of 3 Judge appoints monitor to investigate Infolink PAUL WALDIE July 8, 2004 An Ontario judge has appointed an interim monitor to oversee Infolink Technologies Ltd. and investigate the company's financial activities. The order was granted yesterday at the request of a group of shareholders who are trying to oust the Toronto-based company's chief executive officer, Cesar Correia, and the entire board of directors. The shareholders have alleged in a lawsuit that Mr. Correia misused company finances and engaged in several improper transactions. Mr. Correia denied the allegations and said the board investigated the allegations and found no wrongdoing. In documents filed in court, he also shot back with allegations of his own against his former partner, George Theodore, who is a major company shareholder. Mr. Correia claimed Mr. Theodore is driving the shareholder revolt and working with a competitor to damage Infolink. Mr. Theodore denied the allegations. During a hearing yesterday, Mr. Justice Peter Cumming said appointing a monitor until the allegations are resolved is in the best interests of all shareholders. The investors "are worried that [Mr. Correia] is going to loot the company and take the money away," the judge said. "That doesn't mean he is going to do it," the judge added, but the company has yet to properly defend the allegations. Mr. Justice Cumming noted that the appointment of the monitor is not a signal of any wrongdoing at the company, but will help reassure investors. Infolink deals in bulk faxes, e-mail and voice messages and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. In several affidavits filed in court, some of the shareholders expressed concern about Mr. Correia's criminal past. Mr. Correia, 44, killed his abusive father in Winnipeg in 1984 and was given a five-year sentence. He served 10 months in prison and received a pardon in 1996. Neither the conviction nor the pardon have been disclosed in the company's securities filings. John Holden, who owns 144,000 shares in the company, said in an affidavit that he was "absolutely stunned" by the revelation of Mr. Correia's conviction and pardon in a Globe and Mail article in May. Mr. Holden and two other shareholders said in documents filed in court that they would not have bought shares in the company if they had known about the conviction. They were angry that the company's board knew about the conviction and did not tell shareholders. Mr. Correia said in an affidavit filed this week that Mr. Theodore and several former employees are damaging Infolink by working with a rival company, Toronto-based ActiveCore Technologies Inc. Mr. Correia alleged the former employees improperly accessed Infolink's computer systems and provided misinformation to customers. Mr. Theodore and the others denied the allegations. 
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