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Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

Wealthy ‘ghost immigrants’ using empty homes to claim citizenship: tax expert

Some foreign investors, particularly those from China, are taking advantage of Canadian loopholes to become ghost immigrants, according to David Lesperance, a tax and immigration consultant with Lesperance & Associates.

Lesperance cites one recent judge’s decision from a lawsuit in which the judge said Chinese millionaire Guoqing Fu bought multiple multi-million-dollar homes in Canada while claiming just $97 in worldwide income on his taxes. The judge’s 600-page ruling in the case was posted online earlier this month.

Read more at CTV News

Breaking court decision: Abid Okadia, 63, of OK Tax Services, in Toronto found Liable for Fraud

On November 25, 2016, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found Abid Okadia, born July 8, 1954, the owner and operator of OK Tax Services in Toronto, liable for defrauding a Scarborough couple out of for $90,200.

Mr. Okadia was also ordered to pay punitive damages of $5,000, and the victim’s legal expenses in the amount of $18,500. In addition to this debt of $113,700.00, Mr. Okadia was ordered to account for what he did with the victim’s money.

Read more at Canadian Fraud News

That sales tax you pay on your meal? Some restaurants keep it, using illegal ‘zappers’

WASHINGTON
States nationwide are losing billions of dollars in sales tax revenue to restaurants and other businesses that deploy high-tech methods to evade tax collectors, including cloud-based computing systems originating in Canada, China and other foreign countries.

The cross-border fraud is depriving U.S. states of money they could be using for education, law enforcement and other services. But to date, there’s been little coordinated attempt to root out the offshore operators that assist rogue retailers in under-reporting their sales, especially those handled in cash.

Read more at The Sacramento Bee

Convicted of being subject to approximate $2.9 million in false tax claims

Chander Mohan Sharma has been found guilty of one count of defrauding the Canada Revenue Agency for an amount of more than $5000.

According to the “Toronto Sun”, this is for approximately $ 2.9 million in false claims that the individual has been found liable.

During the trial of Sharma, it has been said that the irregularities were as a result of depriving the government of Canada of approximately $600,000.

Read more at Sherbrooke Times

Massive U.K.-based scheme aimed to swindle $52M in tax refunds from Canadian government

Websites for fraudulent telecommunications service providers based in the U.K. managed to squeeze $4.7 million out of federal coffers over five years before investigators with the Canada Revenue Agency caught on to the scheme.

The proceeds were put into Canadian banks, then transferred to offshore accounts or used in real estate transactions.

read more at canadianfraudnews.com

Crackdown on government abuse worth the cost

FRAUD, abuse and errors in government programs had a cost of $136.7 billion in 2015, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In a nation where $2.8 trillion in annual assistance is paid out, that 95.6 percent accuracy rate is not good enough.

A crackdown is long overdue, and some states are showing how to address the problem.

Read more at whig.com

Stop being a ‘safe haven’: How Canada could do a better job keeping ‘dirty money’ out of the country

The discovery of $2 million sent to Canadians from a suspected money-laundering network designed to hide dirty Russian money highlights the weaknesses of a financial intelligence system with too many loopholes and not enough teeth, say experts.

International banking documents provided to CBC News reveal 30 Canadian companies and individuals received dozens of payments between 2008 and 2013 from accounts in Cyprus and Lithuania.

The accounts are suspected to belong to an international web of companies created to obscure the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars connected to elaborate Russian tax frauds.

read more at cbc.ca

Investigators track millions of dollars from Russian tax fraud coming to Canada

Investigators have tracked millions of dollars associated with an elaborate tax fraud in Russia to bank accounts in Canada, bolstering their call for Ottawa to adopt legislation to freeze the assets of corrupt foreign officials.

Anglo-American financier Bill Browder and a team of investigators and lawyers compiled the data on the transfers of the funds, which indicate a clear Canadian connection to a $230-million (U.S.) swindle in 2007 by Russian officials who used his Russian-based hedge fund, Hermitage Capital Management.

Sergei Magnitsky, a legal adviser for Hermitage, was allegedly tortured and died in a Russian prison in 2009 after exposing the fraud to Russian authorities. Since then, Mr. Browder has helped international authorities track and freeze $43-million (U.S.) in assets related to the fraud, and persuaded governments to take action against Russian officials he says are engaged in the fraud and the cover-up of Mr. Magnitsky’s death.

In 2012, the United States adopted the Magnitsky Act, which freezes assets and bans visas for Russians who violate human rights.

While Canadian political parties are in favour of a Canad

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/investigators-call-on-ottawa-to-adopt-magnitsky-style-anti-corruption-law/article32542084/