Stunning admission: Mall owner admits having cash, but not for leaking roof

ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – A stunning admission from the owner at the inquiry into last summer’s deadly collapse of the Algo Centre Mall.

It came almost at the end of a third long day on the stand in Elliot Lake, Ontario.

Mall owner Bob Nazarian said he had $2.6 million from the sale of a property, but chose to spend it buying another property rather than fix the roof.

He said he had worked too long to save money for his family, and didn’t want to throw it into what he called a black hole.

Until that point, Nazarian had insisted he was in desperate financial straits and unable to raise the cash needed to fix the crumbling mall.

Nazarian faces further questions today about just how aware he was of the structural condition of the building.