The city's most notorious slumlord, a man who owns about 100 rental properties in Edmonton's inner-city, has a criminal history that dates back to 1983, according to parole documents.

Gohar Admed Pervez, also known as Carmen Pervez, who now goes by the name Abdullah Shah, has been convicted over the past 30 years of property and drug offences, assault, and most recently mastermind of a $30-million fraud scheme, for which he served his second prison term.

Pervez once tried to sneak into the United States using an assumed name. He was also extradited to his native Pakistan to appear as a witness in a murder trial.

He was back in the news last week, when residents in Cromdale and Parkdale went before the city to oppose a development permit for a basement suite in one of the landlord's properties. The city denied that appeal.

In an interview with CBC this week, Pervez portrayed himself as a community-minded property owner who has been persecuted because of his 2008 fraud conviction.

'I paid my dues to society'

"I was charged with mortgage fraud," he said. "I did some time. I'm not going to play that down. I need a chance. I paid my dues to society."

Pervez told CBC he owns about 100 rental properties in the Edmonton area. But he said he can't open bank account or have a credit card in his own name, and can't get bank loans.

All of his properties, he said, have "private" mortgages.

"They're calling me a slumlord," Pervez said, standing outside one of his rental properties on 86th Street. "This five-plex was sitting condemned for eight years before I took it over. Today, there's families living here."

The property owner said his family immigrated from Pakistan when he was a boy, and lived "crammed into a one-bedroom apartment" after they arrived.

"Nothing was given to me," he said. "I used to get my clothes at Bissell Centre. That's who I am. This is my way of giving back to where I was once. I understand these people because I was there once."

He said people see him driving an expensive car and make assumptions.

"I've earned that car. I worked for that car."

Pervez was born in Pakistan on June 6, 1962. Parole documents show he moved to Canada with his family when he was 10. He graduated from high school in 1978 and claims to hold two undergraduate degrees in arts and science.

His lengthy criminal record dates from 1983.

In February 1991 he was charged with five counts of trafficking cocaine. He was convicted on all charges in November 1994 and sentenced to four years in prison.

Paroled in June 1997, Pervez was apprehended that August trying to sneak into the United States under an assumed name.

In November 1997, he was extradited to Pakistan, where he appeared as a witness at a murder trial. He returned to Edmonton in 2000.

Five years later, he was charged in a $30-million fraud scheme. He pleaded guilty to 54 charges of fraud and 19 charges of possession of property obtained by crime.

Pervez and his companies netted $1,811,942 from the complex fraud.

In February 2008, he was sentenced to six years but was given four years' credit for time spent in pretrial custody.

Parole documents show that Pervez continued to conduct business while inside the prison. For a time, he was sent to a segregation unit because he had, according to the documents, tried to "gather information that could be used to compromise Correctional Service of Canada staff members and possibly place them at risk."

Pervez told the parole board his life had been threatened by gang members in prison, and his family had paid protection money to keep him alive.

He was granted statutory release on June 4, 2009.

He told the parole board he had no money left from the proceeds of the fraud. He said the family home was in his wife's name

That same month, Pervez told his parole officer he was swearing off casinos, because he had a gambling problem. Little more than two months later, the RCMP saw him cashing out large sums of money - from $10,000 to $120,000 - at several local casinos.

The parole documents show that Pervez and his associates were under investigation for "inappropritate contacts" with police officers involved in his prosecution, and with their families. "These contacts are considered to be wilful intimidation," the board wrote.

In September 2009, Pervez completed what is called an "alternatives, associates and attitudes" program. The facilitator of that program wrote in his file: "Gohar is adept at the problem-solving process; however, his attitude remains criminal. His skills are applied to a thinking process that is highly criminalized and, unless changed, will generally lead to a criminal outcome."

But Pervez paints much a different picture of himself. His story, he said, is one of a man who came from nothing and is now determined to give back to his community.

He said his first job in Edmonton was as a pot washer at the Macdonald Hotel, where he earned $4 an hour.

He now owns about 100 rental units in and around the city and recently bought a 12-suite building in the Cromdale/Parkdale neighbourhood.

Pervez said the property that went before the development appeal board last week, a house at 11234 86th Street, already had a basement suite when he bought it. The suite was not legal, he said, which is why he applied for the permit.

Pervez said he mainly rents to people who otherwise would have no homes.

"What are you doing about homelessness?" he asked rhetorically.

People living in Cromdale say many of the neighborhood's problems can be blamed on a row of five boarding houses Pervez owns on 86th Street at 112th Avenue.

In the recent decision about the basement suite permit, the appeal board based its decision on whether the zoning by-laws would allow such a suite. The community lost its appeal, which angered some residents in the area.

Mayor Don Iveson said he understands that anger but there is only so much the city can do.

"I totally understand why the neighbours are frustrated and why they're taking that frustration through the development process," he said. "But the development process under provincial law doesn't distinguish between good owners and bad owners."

Pervez said one reason he agreed to the CBC interview this week was because he had been accused in media reports of bringing more criminals to the neighbourhood. He said his tenants are mainly families and elderly people.

He said he co-operates with the landlord tenant board and the police and said community league members are invited to visit any of his properties whenever they want.

One resident who likely won't take him up on the offer is Tracy Patience..

After living in Parkdale for 22 years, she said Thursday she is fed up with the crime and violence and plans to pull up stakes and move away.

Her home is less than a block from one of the Pervez properties.

"Last summer, there was a large fight in our alley," she said. "At least a dozen people. There were weapons, there were knives and bats and batons."

Many of those involved in the fight lived in Pervez properties, she said.

"It's a constant, constant issue that we have," Patience said. "He needs to be responsible for the issues on his property. And in over a year and a half that we've been talking to the city, that hasn't happened."