Aaron Takhar was not your standard student politician.While most focus on organizing marches for lower tuition or representing students in academic disputes, Takhar saw financial opportunity in student politics. And when he came to power as president and executive adviser of the Kwantlen University College Student Association(KSA)in Surrey, B.C., in May 2005, he was determined to "focus on the money-makers," as he wrote in an email to his fellow KSA employees in March 2006.

Now, with a new student council in place, allegations of financial impropriety and malfeasance are swirling around Takhar's ousted administration, and his critics are vowing legal action. According to an audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Takhar dispensed almost $150,000 in unsupported payments in just the 10-month period audited. The forensic investigators hired by the new student government say that hundreds of thousands in "high risk" loans were handed out in violation of the union's policies. As part of its investigation, PricewaterhouseCoopers recovered thousands of deleted emails detailing Takhar's tenure -- emails that critics say point to widespread corruption and improper spending.

Takhar, who studied political science at Kwantlen for two years before transferring to Simon Fraser University in 2006, says he decided to run for office because he felt that the previous student council wasn't doing its job. The sleepy university-college campus struggled with low student participation, and a sometimes strained relationship between the KSA and the school's administration. Thanks to his efforts, "people actually noticed the student association for once," he says.

Laura Anderson, however, tells a very different story. She says Takhar's brief time atop the KSA was characterized by political manipulation and rampant overspending. "It made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't stand it," the criminology major says of Takhar's council. "They were basically gambling with thousands of students' money." And that is why she fought in court for two years to get her job on student council reinstated and is now planning to sue over the forensic audit she and her fellow council members ordered when finally back in office.

According to Takhar's critics, he was willing to do whatever was necessary to get hold of the KSA and its $1.6 million in revenues. Anderson alleges that he hired a private investigator to spy on rivals, and meddled with ballot boxes during elections. According to auditor Mary Ann Hamilton, after asserting his control, Takhar allegedly paid KSA execs and staff to do little verifiable work, made payments to a company she believed he had an interest in or controlled, and collected more than $100,000 in salary and various payments from the KSA. Takhar claims that the audit is full of inaccuracies and is biased in favour of the current council members who commissioned it.

There is no question, however, that soon after Takhar got involved in KSA politics, the student government devolved into acrimony. One of the first things Takhar did upon taking office was to call a special annual meeting to make significant changes to the society's bylaws. Anderson says that Takhar and his supporters on council lured students to the meeting with $13,000 in prizes, including MP3 players, TVs, DVD players, and an $8,000 tropical vacation. Not only were the prizes not approved, but the draw was also rigged, "with the grand prize not being drawn randomly but rather drawn in a manner designed to ensure that a friend of the chair, Aaron Takhar, won," according to court documents filed by Anderson.

Among the changes voted in at the meeting: reducing the number of elected students from 20 to nine; doubling their terms to two years; and expelling four rival student politicians who had also been elected to council, including Anderson. Takhar's opponents insist the vote was not properly run, but the KSA stopped recognizing the four elected students opposed to the new regime.

In the beginning of 2006, the KSA council hired Takhar to take on the additional role of executive adviser. His employment contract shows his annual salary as $58,200, but Anderson's court documents claim that he was actually being awarded over $115,000 per year. The PricewaterhouseCoopers audit found that in addition to his regular paycheques, the KSA was also making significant payments to a consulting company called AST Ventures. AST are Aaron Takhar's initials, and auditor Mary Ann Hamilton wrote that she believed that Takhar had an interest in or controlled AST. He confirmed to Maclean's that he was listed as the sole director when the company was incorporated in February 2006, and the current director of AST, Jaideep Pannu, told Hamilton that the company's business with the KSA involved Takhar. In an interview with Maclean's, Takhar said he is no longer involved with AST.

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