PRINCE GEORGE, BC: A master in the B.C. Supreme Court has ordered the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to answer questions pertaining to numerous incidents of corruption within the Agency. An August 26 deadline has been fixed for the CRA to produce all internal reports relating to corruption investigations.
The July 31 ruling came in the ongoing lawsuit by former businessman Irvin Leroux to recover damages from the CRA as a result of alleged misfeasance in their audit and assessment of his taxes. During the 1996 audit, the CRA removed papers from Leroux’s office without his consent, then lost or shredded them. The CRA then assessed Leroux for almost $1 million in taxes, penalties and interest. The tax prosecution resolved after several years with the CRA owing Leroux a refund. However, as a result of the CRA’s actions, Leroux lost his home, his business and his life savings.
Leroux’s lawsuit also alleges that an employee of the CRA asked him for a bribe of $25,000 to make the hefty assessment go away. The lawsuit argues that the CRA has a duty to properly supervise its employees and failed to do so.
During discovery proceedings, Leroux’s lawyer Laurence Armstrong confronted the CRA witness with accumulated newspaper reports about bribery demands, fraud and other misconduct perpetrated by CRA employees in various locations across Canada. Lawyers from the Department of Justice would not permit the CRA witness to answer questions about the subject.
The misconduct reports can be viewed on the website of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, here: http://www.canadianconstitutionfoundation.ca/files/26/CRA%20Corruption%20various%20Newspaper%20reports.pdf
Leroux’s trial is set to take place over two weeks commencing September 23, 2013. Armstrong says the CRA has made at least five attempts to avoid letting Leroux’s claim come to trial; however, his claim remains alive.
Mr. Leroux has been assisted in the litigation by the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF), “Freedom’s Defence Team”, a registered charity, independent and non-partisan, whose mission is to defend the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through education, communication and litigation.