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Kamloops News

Evidence allowed in tax evasion case

The evidence produced from a 2008 to 2009 audit of Cougar Rock Ltd. will be allowed in court after a judge ruled Charter rights were not broken
Image Credit: Flickr

KAMLOOPS — A Kamloops Provincial Court Judge ruled to allow audit evidence collected in a tax evasion case, striking down claims that Charter rights were broken in the investigation.

In a decision posted online this week, Judge Leonard Marchand said he found no breach of Charter rights during the Canada Revenue Agency audit of Cougar Rock Contracting Ltd.. Instead, he ruled that all inquiries made by Jason Roth, had a valid audit purpose.

“Mr. Roth, in my view, was not driven by desire to investigate criminal activity nor by a desire to allow the CRA to “have the best of both worlds.”

Giuseppe Posteraro, president and sole director of the company, and Melissa Dyck, company bookkeeper, applied to have evidence produced by the audit thrown out of the case, claiming it impeded on two sections of the charter of rights.

Marchand said the company ran into problems with the Canadian Revenue Agency several times, creating a 'sufficiently high risk of problems' and leading to the audit.

The case was then handed to Jason Roth who found a number of concerns throughout his investigation, including repairs to Posteraro’s family home, as well as to his children’s homes, being claimed as work-related expenses.

Posteraro and Dyck claimed that Roth continued his investigation even after determining criminal action was needed.

Marchand disagreed.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Cavelle Layes at clayes@infotelnews.ca or call (250) 319-7494.

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