(JENNIFER SCHELL / iNFOnews.ca)

In exchange for participating in a fraudulent immigration scheme, an Oliver vineyard owner was paid tens of thousands of dollars and promised all the workers he’d ever need – but then the authorities found out.

Randhir Toor pleaded guilty on behalf of his business to seven of 18 counts of counsel or attempt to counsel misrepresentation at the Penticton courthouse on Feb. 16.

His business, Toor Vineyards in Oliver, appeared to have three men on the payroll between 2015 and 2018 who were not in fact employees.

“Payroll cycling is a practice where an employer creates falsified proof of employment to give the appearance that a foreign national works for them, when in reality they do not,” Crown counsel Ashley Hathorn told Judge Greg Koturbash.

“Toor Vineyards generated falsified proof of employment such as pay checks, paystubs, tax documents, and letters offering employment for (three foreign nationals),” Hawthorn said.

That enabled the foreign nationals to apply for permanent residency in Canada by fraudulently qualifying for the minimum amount of time spent working in the country. For skilled workers it takes 1,560 hours, which equals one year of full time work at 30 hours per week.

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Toor’s actions were part of a larger scheme run by Can-Asia Immigration Consultation, and his vineyard was among numerous other companies implicated from across B.C. One of which was Singla Bros Holdings Ltd., which was sentenced to $75,000 worth of fines in November.

Defence lawyer Shelley Sugarman told Judge Koturbash that Toor initially reached out to Can-Asia to ask for help to legitimately recruit temporary foreign workers, as many of his previous attempts were unsuccessful. That is how he met Rupinder Singh Batth, the “mastermind” behind the fraud, Sugarman said. Initially, without breaking any rules, Batth managed to find foreign workers for Toor Vineyards “in short time.”

She said the two men became friends and then got to know each other’s families.

At one point, Toor told Batth he was interested in expanding his winery but he was worried about having enough workers to sustain a larger operation. Then Batth pitched a deal.

“Mr. Batth told Mr. Toor that if he agreed to help Batth create some made up positions for his clients, he would promise to get Mr. Toor all the future workers he could ever need,“ Sugarman said. “Mr. Batth told Mr. Toor that it wasn’t a big deal, and that a number of other well respected employers had done this for Batth as well.”

Toor – who moved to Canada from India at the age of 17 – was told by Batth that it wasn’t a criminal offence, just a way around a complicated system, and that ultimately he would be helping other immigrants such as himself.

“Although Mr. Toor had misgivings about the whole thing, he eventually let Mr. Batth do it,” she said.

“He justified it to himself by thinking he would be helping himself, eventually hiring more people, and that he would be helping other immigrants come to Canada. And he realizes now, he was thinking that then, but he understands and accepts his responsibility and knows this was wrong.”

As the scheme progressed, Toor agreed to create an email address for the the purpose of fake job applications, and then told he wasn’t allowed to speak to people from Employment and Social Development Canada as Batth would on his behalf.

In order to apply for Temporary Foreign Workers, employers must demonstrate a local labour shortage. But Toor helped fake assessments in order for Can-Asia to apply for foreign workers under false pretences.

After that, Toor was convinced to further his participation in the scheme through payroll cycling, which Hathorn said he was paid a total of $47,550 for his role, adding that it was a sophisticated scheme. 

“By that time Mr. Toor felt he was so far entrenched in the scheme, he felt he couldn’t back out,” Sugarman said.

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In defence of her client, Sugarman painted a picture of a hardworking immigrant who managed to succeed as an entrepreneur despite facing numerous adversities throughout his life.

After Toor’s dad died when he was 7, his uncle took over dad’s trucking company but didn’t assist his family and they became impoverished. Along with his brother, he earned a small fortune the first year he came to Canada after working 18 hours days on a farm – they saved up $50,000 in addition to paying for their younger sister's wedding.

Shortly afterwards, a cousin from Winnipeg learned of their savings and invited the family to move to Winnipeg and buy into the family business. They accepted the offer but the cousin did not actually want them to be involved in the business. 

After the brothers got back on their feet again by working long hours as taxi drivers, they were ripped off by another family member who never paid them back $30,000 that was lent.

Toor has shown a pattern of being taken advantage of throughout different points in his life, and it's probably because of his good nature, said Sugarman. 

She also presented numerous letters from the community in support of Toor, which included police officers, a former mayor, a radio host and a retired NHL player.

“In my almost 30 years of practicing I’ve never encountered anything (like it), not even by half,” Sugarman said.

Toor Vineyards was fined $90,000 for the seven counts of counselling people to misrepresent or withhold facts related to immigration applications.

During the same court proceedings, Toor, on his own behalf, pleaded guilty to two firearms charges that were unrelated to the immigration scheme. For that he was given a conditional discharge after 18 months of probation.

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