The enigmatic millionaire left behind more questions than answers – and even more creditors.
When I first stood on the hill next to the barn of the Virgin Farm on a sunny fall day in 1986, I had no idea of the numerous undercurrents surrounding its owner, Saad Gabr. All I knew was that it had the absolute best view of North Hatley.
At the time I was a fresh out of high school college student, and completely new to this part of the world. My cousin Jim, a full year older than me and therefore more aware of the wider world, said it was owned by some rich Arab guy. Not much more than that. Just a couple of dumb farm kids amazed that such a magnificent property would sit there empty.
Gabr was born in either Morocco or Egypt, accounts differ on his birthplace. He was reputedly an inventor, with patents in electronics and audiology. But unlike most inventors, Gabr had money. Or access to money. Lots of it.
He first arrived in North Hatley in the early 1970’s and fell in love with the place. He bought a home in Hatley Acres, which in subsequent years would be transformed into a veritable palace, dubbed locally as Baghdad sur-le-lac. One winter’s night in 1977 he showed up at a restaurant in the village with an entourage of friends, including a Saudi Prince. And word got out that he wanted to create an Islamic school of technology and culture.
Pretty soon Gabr was buying up property all around North Hatley, including the gas station, hardware store, both marinas, a hotel and a laundromat. He also bought the Virgin Farm, which was still in operation. At one point it was estimated that he owned about a quarter of North Hatley. He announced plans to build a$50 million Islamic-oriented technology and training centre.
His shopping spree continued in nearby Sherbrooke, where he bought up numerous commercial buildings. At 101 Frontenac the SAAR Foundation set up its Canadian headquarters. That organization was a maze of over 100 think tanks, charities and shell companies, according to a later FBI investigation.
SAAR was also Gabr’s financial backer, covering the $1.8 mortgage on his properties. SAAR was there again when Gabr bought the recently defunct Space Research Institute in Highwater. Gabr was now emerging as what he was: an arms dealer. One who had designs on Gerald Bull’s so-called Super Gun. When Gabr failed to pay his property taxes, SAAR took care of it.
The Sheik of Massawippi, as the locals called him, kept wheeling and dealing. Though he seemingly held Canadian citizenship at this point, in 1982 he played host to General Zia ul-Haq, president of Pakistan. The general was kind enough to show up with a freshly printed Pakistani passport in Gabr’s name.
It turns out that as far as Canada, and more particularly the Eastern Townships, was concerned, the one thing Gabr didn’t have was money. In North Hatley the gas station reportedly ran out of gas. The hardware store couldn’t order new stock. The house at the Virgin Farm was vandalized, and eventually burned. Properties changed hands, from one numbered company to another.
In 1987, faced with mounting financial problems and likely under increasing pressure from Canadian and American authorities, Gabr fled to the Middle East.
One night that same fall about a dozen of us piled into cars and onto motorcycles and left Lennoxville to head over to the Virgin Farm to watch a lunar eclipse. It was, and remains, one of my favourite memories from that time in my life.
For the next decade Gabr’s compound at Hatley Acres fell into ruin. Once noted for its high security, curious folks now walked the grounds to gawk at the ornate lanterns and vast expanses of marble and concrete.
By September 11, 2001, 25 years ago, Saad Gabr had faded into the local folklore. But following the terror attacks in the US, Canada’s spy agency CSIS, began taking a closer look at the SAAR Foundation. Once the spooks found links to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, its properties were later seized and liquidated. By this point SAAR was named in a $1 trillion lawsuit brought forward by the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Believed at times to be living large in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Radio Canada reporters eventually tracked down Gabr in the United Arab Emirates in 2004. He sat down with them for an interview, in which he candidly discussed his longtime membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, and his desire to get SRC’s Super Gun to “shoot down satellites that were spying on him and his friends.”
The interview would be his last known public appearance. He is believed to have died shortly afterwards, the time, date and location of his death a mystery.