Speedy Justice - Canadian Style

[Burnaby49]

One problem with the Canadian justice system is the excrutiatingly slow speed with which it operates. Criminal cases are frequently stayed by the courts because the cases have dragged on so long without going to trial that the courts deem the accused to have been denied their right to justice. The RCMP can poke around for years before they even start the ball rolling by laying charges.

The link below is to a decision in a tax fraud case where the accused were found guilty and, unbelievably in the Canadian context, sent to jail for significant terms (although it is likely they will serve less than half of it). Note that the fraud occurred in 1994-1997, 18 to 15 years ago.

Maybe they got some jail time because none of the money defrauded from the government was recovered. But the judge still had to get all softhearted about a pair of crooks while determining sentences;


A long time has passed since the offences, during which Bath and Khangura have dedicated themselves to restoring their mental, physical and financial health and giving valuable service to the community, Holmes said. The men have come to understand the effects of their crimes and have shown remorse, she added.


A quick primer. GST is a final level tax but it is paid on a trickle-down basis. If a manufacturer buys goods to make a product he pays GST on it but, when he sells the product, he gets a refund of the GST paid because the buyer is also required to pay GST. The theory is that the final purchaser (say me), who does not resell the product, is stuck with the GST. Exported goods are not subject to GST because the final purchaser is not in Canada. So these guys set up an entire phony export business that claimed GST refunds on the fictitious sales. One part I'm missing is how they faked actually paying GST in the first placed in order to qualify for a refund but GST was never my tax, I was involved in income tax.


http://www.theprovince.com/news/million ... story.html