From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Judge turfs taxman’s case : CRA SOTW   
      
   June 24, 2013 - 7:31pm By CHRIS LAMBIE Business Editor    
      
   Evidence taken in bid to search New Glasgow man’s office disallowed.    
      
   A judge has dismissed a case against a New Glasgow businessman who had been   
   facing dozens of charges for making “false or deceptive statements” to the   
   federal taxman.   
      
   Darren Martin, owner of Creative Metals, said the Canada Revenue Agency’s case   
   fell apart last week because, according to its own rules, it should have   
   cautioned him when an audit of his taxes turned into a full-blown   
   investigation.   
      
   “They were supposed to caution me when I sang like a canary, I suppose. They   
   didn’t,” Martin said Monday.   
      
   He obtained CRA manuals under the Access to Information Act and studied them   
   to fight the case.   
      
   “Here’s one guy who decided that he wasn’t going to put up with it, because I   
   knew they were trying to make an example of me.”   
      
   Martin, who is in the custom wrought-iron and steel fabrication business, said   
   the case boiled down to about $33,000 he allegedly owed the taxman for the   
   years 2004 to 2006. He admits to making mistakes in his tax filings, but said   
   they weren’t    
   intentional, just bad bookkeeping.   
      
   “I was told by the Crown himself that they were trying to make an example out   
   of me and that I would never win because they all get paid by the state,”   
   Martin said.   
      
   “That was the thrust of my tenacity right there. … What the hell kind of   
   country do we live in where this is allowed to happen?”   
      
   The judge essentially tossed out evidence an auditor collected to build up a   
   case for a warrant to search Martin’s home office. The search took place in   
   the fall of 2008.   
      
   “The prosecutor withdrew because he has no evidence to prosecute me on,”   
   Martin said.   
   Federal Crown attorney Constantin Draghici-Vasilescu could not be reached   
   Monday for comment.   
      
   Martin said authorities have 25 business days to appeal the decision handed   
   down on Friday by Judge Del Atwood.   
      
   “He told me he would (appeal),” Martin said of the Crown.   
      
   “This is another slap in the face. I’m on edge, absolutely.”   
      
   Martin said the Crown had tried earlier to get him to agree to a plea bargain.   
      
   “The Crown made two offers to me,” he said. “They took the charges down from   
   26 to nine, and then from 26 to two, to try to get me to tap out. They wanted   
   me to plead guilty on two charges and I said: ‘No.’ I said, ‘You’re wrong, you   
   people did this and    
   I’m going to see it through.’”   
      
   Martin, who runs a one-man shop, represented himself in Pictou provincial   
   court during the trial last week.   
      
   “The CRA will focus on people like me because we are unable to protect   
   ourselves,” he said.   
      
   “They don’t go after the big people, the big companies, because they have the   
   finances to win, or to drag it out. It’s people like me who don’t have the   
   money to hire the big lawyers — they bankrupt us.”   
      
   He said the publicity took a toll on his family and his business.   
      
   “For the last two years I’ve been living in the red,” Martin said.   
      
   “I’ve got a family up here with kids and my wife doesn’t work. And, like   
   everybody else, I’ve got bills. … I’ve lost accounts because people think I’m   
   a ... criminal. I’ve lost I don’t know how much money.”   
      
   Martin said his daughter in high school gets picked on over the case.   
      
   “My wife, when she goes into the grocery store, people shun her,” he said.   
   “They think we’re all a bunch of criminals.”   
      
      
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