Canadian Government Awarded $2m in Contracts to Iranian Ex-vp’s Son Despite National Security Concerns

Canadian government agencies awarded more than $2 million in contracts to companies run by the son of a former Iranian vice-president, despite national security concerns surrounding the businessman and allegations contained in a Canadian intelligence investigation.

According to an investigation published Wednesday by Global News, Mohammad Reza Ghafouri Fard, who goes by Sal Ghafouri, operates Edmonton-based companies that obtained contracts from federal and provincial governments, including the Department of National Defence and RCMP.

Ghafouri is the son of Hassan Ghafouri Fard, a prominent Iranian politician who served as a vice-president under former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and later served in Iran’s parliament.

But it is not Ghafouri’s family connection that has raised the most serious questions.
A declassified January 2023 report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) alleges that before coming to Canada, Ghafouri was involved in Iranian military technology and procurement.

According to Global’s reporting on the CSIS document, intelligence officials alleged that Ghafouri worked on projects that included the Shahin guided anti-aircraft missile system, an electronic-warfare project known as RAAD, and a military direction-finding system called SINA.

CSIS also alleged that Ghafouri was involved in a procurement network that obtained foreign components for Iranian military projects at a time when international sanctions made such technology difficult for Iran to acquire.
Ghafouri became a Canadian permanent resident in 2013.

The CSIS report further alleges that during a trip back to Iran in 2015, Ghafouri met twice with members of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. According to the report, Iranian intelligence officials questioned him about his employment and whether Canadian or American intelligence agencies had approached him, among other matters.

The allegations have not been proven in court, Ghafouri has not been criminally charged over them, and he disputes the government’s claims. His lawyer has pointed to the security screenings Ghafouri has undergone in Canada and has said he intends to challenge the government’s case.

Government Contracts Continued
What makes the case particularly striking is the apparent overlap between Canada’s national security concerns and the government’s own procurement system.
Government procurement records confirm that Ghafouri’s company Melanite Group received contracts from several federal departments.

Those included a Correctional Service Canada contract worth more than $106,000 in 2019, a Department of National Defence contract exceeding $103,000 in 2020, and an Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada contract that ultimately reached more than $380,000.

Global reports that Melanite Group and another Ghafouri company, Radian Group, together obtained more than $2 million in federal and provincial government contracts.
The contracts reportedly included work involving military facilities. One involved supplying snow-vehicle parts to CFB Shilo in Manitoba, where Canadian, American and other allied troops train. The RCMP also contracted with his company for a borescope imaging device.

Perhaps most notably, procurement records show Melanite received a Department of National Defence standing offer in December 2023 involving natural-gas regulators at CFB Suffield in Alberta — months after the January 2023 CSIS report detailing the allegations against Ghafouri.

Global reports that Canadian immigration investigators had raised national-security concerns about Ghafouri years earlier, dating back to 2017.

Citizenship Proceedings Underway
The matter has now progressed considerably further.
According to Global, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada informed Ghafouri in May 2026 that proceedings were being initiated to prevent him from obtaining Canadian citizenship on the basis that he represents a “threat to the security of Canada.”

Ghafouri is challenging the government’s position.

The revelations are likely to raise broader questions about communication between Canada’s intelligence, immigration and procurement systems — and how companies associated with an individual under national-security scrutiny continued obtaining government contracts, including from Canada’s defence establishment.