Now, pizza-man linked to human smuggling!

More skeletons are tumbling out of cupboard of Toronto pizza-man Harjit Singh, reports Gurmukh Singh.

Today more skeletons tumbled out of the cupboard of Toronto pizza-man Harjit Singh, whose allegations toppled Canadian immigration minister Judy Sgro and created ripples nationwide last week.

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Singh had come to Canada on a visitor visa in 1988 and sought refugee asylum, falsely claiming that he faced persecution at the hands of Indian security forces because of his alleged links with terrorists.

Under the law, he was supposed not to leave Canada till his case was decided. However, Singh travelled to India "at least 20 times" on a forged passport to smuggle people into Canada.

Quoting a police affidavit filed against him, the National Post said that investigators had recovered as many as 17 fake Indian passports used for smuggling people into Canada during a raid on Singh's home in 2000.

The police affidavit also includes a witness' account who said that Singh promised to smuggle his brother into Canada if he was paid $10,000 to $15,000.

Investigators found fake passports accidentally when they raided Singh's home for his two sons' involvement in the $ 1 million credit-card scam.

"While detectives searched for evidence that implicated the sons, they found numerous passports, immigration stamps and 'stolen IMM 1000 forms' that directly related back to Singh. The passports were `genuine fakes' which means the documents were authentic but the information written on them was false. Singh's daughter, for example, was pictured on three of the passports,'' the Post reported, quoting the police affidavit.

Personally, Singh had travelled to India on a passport belonging to one Lakhbir Singh Sandhu but had Singh's photo. The passport showed "at least 26 immigration/visa stamps.... with at least a minimum of 20 visits to India, the police affidavit says.

"A person carrying that passport was arrested by Indian authorities in August 1995 for trying to smuggle a four-year-old out of the country. His fingerprints were identical to Singh's. Police later also discovered that the passport Singh allegedly used to sneak the child out of India belonged to a Canadian boy whose father, Amrik Ghuamn, was Singh's friend,'' the Post reports.

And Singh was pinned down with this evidence when, during his bail hearing in November 2000 in the credit card scam, he denied having ever gone back to India after 1988. For this, he was charged with perjury and fraud, disqualifying him from refugee status.

Singh, who was first ordered to be deported in 1992, has managed to stay in this country by exploiting various loopholes in the legal system. His application for permanent residency has been rejected five times. His time around his argument is that he should not be sent back because Judy Sgro had promised him permanent residency.

Meanwhile, Indo-Canadian MP, Gurbax Malhi, who is travelling in India, has also been dragged into the credit-card scam case. According to the Globe and Mail newspaper, Malhi had written a letter on behalf of one Paramjit Singh who is the co-accused with Harjit Singh in the credit-card scam.

Found in Paramjit Singh's court file, Malhi's letter says, "Mr (Paramjit) Singh is an active member of the community. He volunteers his time in the local gurdwaras. He is a hardworking and dedicated individual.''

Paramjit Singh pleaded guilty to a fraud of over $5,000 and fraudulent use of a credit card and was sentenced to 12-month jail on April 30,2003.

Malhi said, "If I had known about his (Paramjit's) record, I never would have written the letter. Too bad if someone cheated me."