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Deported Indo-Canadian may sneak back: police
Police have been put on alert that deported Indo-Canadian pizza store-owner may try to sneak back into the country.
Canadian border police have been put on alert on suspicion that deported Indo-Canadian pizza store-owner Harjit Singh may try to sneak back into the country with phony travel documents.
Police have been warned that Singh, who fought to remain here for 17 years, may try to enter Canada from the US by hiding inside a vehicle. He was deported to India three weeks ago for failing to report to immigration officials.
Singh, who had forced former immigration minister Judy Sgro to resign over influence peddling allegations, has launched a $1.25 million counter lawsuit against her.
The Winnipeg Sun newspaper reported that police and immigration officers suspect Singh may try to return to Canada since his family, business and home are in the Brampton area.
Chris Kealey of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) said he can't confirm or deny what alerts were issued or for whom, citing privacy laws.
"We have measures in place to verify travel documents and those entering the country. We have the means to track some of these people," Kealey said.
He said Singh would require a minister's permit to return to Canada.
Meanwhile, Singh has alleged in court documents that Sgro engineered his arrest and deportation to save her own skin.
Shortly before his deportation, Sgro had slapped Singh and three others with a $750,000 lawsuit.
Sgro's lawsuit named Singh, his daughter-in-law Harkamal Preet Virk, his best friend Harminder Singh Brar and Brar's 16-year-old son, Amandeep Singh Brar.
The four defendants-turned-plaintiffs are seeking $1 million in general damages and $250,000 punitive damages.
In court documents, Singh claimed that Sgro promised him status in Canada in exchange for free pizzas and garlic bread for 16 workers at her campaign office.
Singh, his daughter-in-law, and two friends all deny virtually every aspect of Sgro's claim against them, including making numerous statements widely reported in the media.
Sgro, who resigned Jan 14, said she resigned to clear her name. She admitted that her campaign had accepted "unsolicited and unneeded food" but denied ever meeting Singh or promising him asylum.
Singh's friend Harinder Brar and his son, Amandeep, said that they were present when Sgro made the promise to him, and that he supplied her campaign with volunteers, pizza and garlic bread.
A federal court judge, in upholding Singh's deportation, noted that he had a long history of deceit and concluded his allegations simply defied common sense.
Singh was also found liable in a civil suit for his role in a credit-card scam. In a widely reported media statement, Sgro gave Singh and the others a week to publicly retract their statements. When they did not do so, she launched a $750,000 defamation suit against them last month.
Neither Sgro nor the defendants, who are representing themselves, could be immediately reached for comment.
Sgro's political problems started in November when the National Post reported that she granted a ministerial permit to Alina Balaican, a 25-year-old dancer from Romania who worked as a volunteer in Sgro's re-election campaign.
Balaican had come to Canada on a temporary work permit. She obtained the second permit after she volunteered on Sgro's re-election campaign. As minister of citizenship and immigration, Sgro had the power to grant temporary visas on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
The Globe and Mail reported last month that Singh in the past has been "convicted of crimes in India and found civilly liable in a credit-card fraud against Canada's five major banks" - the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the Bank of Montreal, the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Royal Canadian Bank and the Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Singh's former lawyer, Mark Klaiman, has sued him for failing to pay the $57,000 legal bills. Immigration officers arrested Singh on Dec 26 for failing to appear for his monthly reporting at a Toronto immigration office.
Singh claimed that he was arrested because Sgro wanted him out of the country for fears that he might expose the deal between the two. In a ruling on Feb 1, Mr. Justice Michael Phelan of the federal court rejected Singh's claims due to lack of evidence and consequently he was deported from Canada.
