Penticton’s Singla Brothers Holdings Ltd. has pleaded guilty to immigration fraud charges.
An error in the court record incorrectly indicated that Paul Singla was intending to plead guilty. That is not the case.
On Aug. 20 in Penticton provincial court, the company Singla Brothers Holdings, through defence lawyer Ian Donaldson, pleaded guilty to six counts of counselling or attempting to counsel people to misrepresent or withhold facts related to immigration applications. The offences fall under the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Sentencing will take place Nov. 3.
“The Crown will stay all charges against Paul Singla,” said Donaldson.
Randhir Toor of Toor Vineyards in Oliver will be back in court for 29 charges he is facing in relation to immigration fraud. He appears next on Nov. 4.
In addition to charges of providing counsel for misrepresentation, he is facing multiple firearms-related charges as well.
Singla and Toor were charged in 2020 as part of a criminal investigation into a large immigration fraud network that had reaches to the Lower Mainland.
In 2018, the Singla Brothers Holdings office, also Singla’s home, was raided by members of the Canadian Border Service agency.
A Penticton Western News story published online on Aug. 18 relied on court records that incorrectly showed that Singla, the individual, was intending to plead guilty to the charges when in fact it is the corporation in which he is a partner that pleaded guilty to six charges.
Neither the court registry nor Crown counsel could be reached to comment on the allegation of the court records error.
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