Winnipeg man fined $20K in immigration fraud case

A Winnipeg man has pleaded guilty to misrepresentation under the Canada Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Avtar Singh Sohi, 41, received a $20,000 fine for claiming a South Asian woman — who came to Canada on a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) — was working for him as a nanny when she wasn't.

LMIAs are issued after a need for a temporary foreign worker is demonstrated because there is no citizen or permanent resident available to do the job.

The Provincial Court of Manitoba heard Monday the woman was illegally working elsewhere, but that Avtar provided her with pay stubs to show she was working for him from March 2019 to July 2021. He also provided her with a number of signed documents that she used as part of her permanent residency application

"By creating documents to undermine the immigration system, Avtar committed fraud," said federal crown attorney Matt Sinclair.

The crown and defence agreed to a $20,000 fine for Avtar, which the judge signed off on. Court was told the maximum penalty for this offence is a $50,000 fine and/or two years in jail.

"His behaviour erodes the trust of our immigration system and must be denounced and deterred," Sinclair said.

Investigation into brother

Sinclair said in September 2019, the Canadian Border Services Agency criminal investigation section received information about Avtar's brother Hartar Singh Sohi, who is an immigration consultant and owner of Abroad Immigration.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Hartar but it doesn't appear he's been officially charged in the case. CBC News was told he fled to India, but Sinclair would not confirm that.

In March 2021, CBSA investigators executed search warrants at three properties connected with Abroad Immigration and Education Services — a Winnipeg company that specializes in getting newcomers permanent residency in Canada.

According to search warrant documents obtained by CBC News, the investigation looked into allegations Hartar and his brother were involved in a scheme that charged newcomers tens of thousands for permits to work in Manitoba.

Court heard that during the search, they found a work permit issued for an Indian foreign national authorizing her to work as a nanny for Avtar and his wife. 

Sinclair said CCTV cameras from the home showed the woman never entered the home for two weeks prior to the search. Investigators then surveilled the woman and found she was working at another place without authorization.

The woman was brought in for questioning and initially told investigators that she was working as a nanny, but later admitted her family paid $40,000 for her LMIA. When she arrived in Canada, she was told there was no job for her. 

"She was told that if she wanted to take pay stubs to show that she'd been working for Avtar Sohi as a nanny, she could use them to support an application for permanent residence, but she'd have to pay for the paystubs," said Sinclair.

"Whatever the arrangements were between her and Abroad Immigration, this fellow here is the collateral damage of the result of that," said Marty Minuk, Avtar's lawyer.

Minuk said his client had nothing to do with whatever agreement the foreign national had with Abroad Immigration. 

"Clearly, whatever was set up, was set up to have him, Mr. Avtar Sohi get involved in some matter that he really knew nothing about and now he's suffering consequences of it," said Minuk.

Court heard Avtar Singh Sohi has been in Canada since 2006. He is married with two children, and turns 42 on Tuesday. He is a Canadian citizen. 

In April 2022, he was convicted of dangerous driving, but does not have a criminal record related to immigration fraud.

CBSA investigation

In January 2022, the CBSA investigation continued and agents got production orders for a number of banks and credit unions to obtain financial documents for accounts held by Hartar Singh Sohi, his wife Mandeep Kaur Sohi, his brother Avtar Singh Sohi, Avtar's wife Gurdeep Kaur Sohi and two associated companies, Abroad Immigration and KS Properties Inc.

CBSA alleges in court filings that Avtar and his wife aided Hartar in the "misrepresentation of information on immigration applications" and that the couple were using their home construction company KS Properties Inc., to invest the money received by Hartar to purchase and renovate homes. CBSA believes this was done to hide the origin of the funds

The documents say between November 2016 and January 2020, the Sohis and their companies deposited $783,827.45 Cdn cash and $9,600.00 US in their bank accounts. FINTRAC, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, says "these demonstrate a Money Laundering Indicator as the client's account shows a high volume of cash deposits whose source of funds is unknown," according to the January 2022 production order.

In June 2022, the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants suspended Hartar Sohi's licence while he was under investigation for, among other things, selling fraudulently obtained Labour Market Impact Assessments.