From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Judge blasts Canada Revenue Agency for ruining British Columbia couple’s   
   lives :CRA SOTW   
    A B.C. judge says Tony and Helen Samaroo of Nanaimo were the victims of an   
   “egregious” prosecution based on an unfounded theory.   
      
   By The Canadian Press   
      
   VICTORIA — A Vancouver Island couple has been awarded nearly $1.7 million in   
   damages after a judge criticized the Canada Revenue Agency for the   
   “ruination” of their business and personal lives by “high-handed,   
   reprehensible and malicious”    
   actions.   
      
   Justice Robert Punnett of the Supreme Court of British Columbia says Tony and   
   Helen Samaroo of Nanaimo were the victims of an “egregious” prosecution   
   based on unfounded theory and suspicion about alleged tax evasion at the   
   couple’s restaurant and    
   other businesses.   
      
   The Samaroos were operating a restaurant, night club and motel in Nanaimo in   
   2008 when they were charged with 21 counts of tax evasion for allegedly   
   skimming $1.7 million from the business.   
      
   They were acquitted of all charges in a provincial court trial in 2010 in what   
   the judge hearing the case agreed amounted to the Crown using “voodoo   
   accounting” to support its case.   
      
   The couple sued for malicious prosecution, alleging prosecutor Brian Jones,   
   the Canada Revenue Agency and its senior investigator, Keith Kendal, targeted   
   them, despite lacking any direct evidence of wrongdoing.   
      
   Punnett’s ruling says Jones failed to exercise “prosecutorial   
   discretion” but clears him of malicious intent. It criticizes the agency and   
   Kendal in assessing punitive and aggravated damages on behalf of the Samaroos.   
      
   “The CRA used the powers of the state in the form of a criminal prosecution   
   to wrongfully and maliciously prosecute,” writes Punnett.   
      
   The judge also criticizes Kendal for misleading the prosecution, almost from   
   the beginning, finding he knew evidence that was required to support any   
   allegation of skimming could not be gathered.   
      
   “The behaviour of Mr. Kendal respecting the suppressing and misstating of   
   evidence deserves rebuke. It offends this court’s sense of decency and was a   
   marked departure from conduct expected of an individual in Mr. Kendal’s   
   position and an agency    
   such as the CRA,” Punnett writes in his judgment dated Friday.   
      
   The ruling discusses what the judge calls “the unfortunate culture” within   
   the Canada Revenue Agency.   
      
   It describes an email to Jones and Kendal from another investigator during   
   discussions about 88 proposed charges against the Samaroos, quipping that   
   “after 85 charges, doesn’t a guilty verdict call for a guillotine?”   
      
   Later, after 21 charges had been approved, the same author wrote to Jones,   
   pointing to a front-page newspaper story about the case, with the comment,   
   “I can’t wait to read the edition after the guilty verdict.”   
      
   Punnett writes that agency employees “looked forward with unprofessional   
   glee to the plaintiffs’ anticipated conviction and sentencing and their   
   resulting ruination,” an approach he calls “deeply troubling.”   
      
   “The CRA and Mr. Kendal do not acknowledge their wrongdoing or their   
   violation of professional standards. They expressed no apology and were   
   without remorse. Given the opportunity they would pursue the plaintiffs again   
   on the same basis,” says    
   Punnett.   
      
   The Samaroos were seeking $6 million for the violation of their charter rights   
   as an alternative to punitive damages, but Punnett awarded them $750,000 in   
   punitive damages.   
      
   He also writes that no amount will cause the tax agency financial hardship,   
   but the award will “bring home to the CRA and its employees that conduct   
   such as has occurred here is not acceptable.”   
      
   The Samaroos have also been awarded $300,000 each in aggravated damages for   
   the “irrevocable” harm to their reputations and about $348,000 to cover   
   their legal fees.   
      
      
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