Immigration

Ottawa trying to recoup nearly $2M missing from embassy

Topics: 
Foreign Affairs, Corruption, Immigration
Rating: 
3

Steve Rennie – April 15, 2013

A decade after an accountant at the Canadian embassy in Venezuela is said to have misappropriated more than $2 million, the federal government is still trying to get most of its money back.

Figures released last fall show Canada has yet to recoup $1.75 million of the $2.2 million lost to "fraud involving immigration revenue." But a newly released document tells the full story. A report by Foreign Affairs' special investigations unit reveals for the first time how an accountant and his brother-in-law allegedly siphoned the money from the embassy's bank accounts.

Former immigration manager Diane Serré sentenced to four years in prison

Topics: 
Immigration, Corruption
Rating: 
3

Andrew Seymour – March 28, 2013

A former immigration manager was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison after a judge found she had undermined Canadian values, potentially put the country at risk and tarnished the nation’s international reputation by accepting cash and gifts in exchange for providing special treatment to certain immigrants.

Corruption within the ranks of the public service will not be tolerated, Ontario Court Justice Catherine Aitken told a teary-eyed Diane Serré before handing down the sentence. Serré’s white-collar crimes were anything but harmless or victimless, Aitken said, and left a “black mark” on the country’s immigration system.

PEI immigration program critic pens controversial book

Topics: 
PEI, Corruption, Immigration
Rating: 
4
Rob McEachern

Teresa Wright – December 18, 2012

A businessman who has been a vocal critic of the Ghiz government’s handling of the Provincial Nominee Program has written a book.

Entitled “Red Like Me, How P.E.I. Liberals Stole 500 Million Dollars from Canada,” Rob McEachern details his own dealings with the program and his perspective of the way the PNP was run. He admits it is a controversial book and makes no apologies for its provocative title.

Minister calls for investigation of P.E.I. Immigrant Program

Topics: 
Corruption, PEI, Immigration
Rating: 
4

Brodie Fenlon – 10 May 2012

Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has called on his officials to launch an investigation in the wake of a joint probe of P.E.I.'s controversial immigrant nominee program by the Huffington Post Canada and King's College journalism students.

“I have referred these findings to my department for further investigation,” Kenney said.The series, reported by students at the University of King’s College in Halifax, found the now-defunct program offered some foreign nationals a way to purchase entry into Canada by making “investments” they would never recoup, in companies they might not even know.

Ottawa crackdown on P.E.I. immigration scheme

Topics: 
Corruption, PEI, Immigration
Rating: 
3
PEI Legislature

At first, it was a quiet, bureaucratic struggle, but by 2008, the gloves came off as Ottawa forced an end to P.E.I.’s Immigrant Partner program.

The King's Investigative Workshop – May 8, 2012

The Prince Edward Island government resisted years of efforts by Ottawa to have it change an immigration program that federal officials increasingly saw as a threat to the integrity of the country's immigration program.

The plan allowed foreign nationals to obtain expedited entry to Canada by making a payment, some of which went to a business in Prince Edward Island.

Billionaire fights expulsion from Canada

Topics: 
Corruption, Organized crime, Arab spring, Immigration
Rating: 
0

Sidhartha Banerjee – February 2, 2012

A billionaire member of Tunisia’s once-dominant ruling clan whose stay in Canada since last year has been shrouded in mystery is scheduled to make a public appearance soon.

Belhassen Trabelsi has remained under the radar since a much-publicized arrival amid turmoil in his native Tunisia, where his family stands accused of siphoning millions of dollars from the state.

Senior Immigration Canada manager pleads not guilty in bribery scheme

Topics: 
Corruption, Immigration
Rating: 
3

Andrew Seymour – January 24, 2012

Secretly recorded telephone calls and undercover police surveillance will paint a portrait of a senior Citizenship and Immigration Canada manager taking cash in exchange for preferential treatment on permanent residency applications, a prosecutor said Monday on the first day of a trial into an alleged bribes-for-status scheme.

Assistant Crown attorney Mike Boyce said Diane Serre teamed up with Issam Dakik to take thousands of dollars from mostly Arab immigrants in exchange for fast-tracking their applications. Dakik would meet with the applicants and collect the money before contacting Serre who would use her influence as a manager and supervisor in Citizenship and Immigration Canada's Catherine Street office, said Boyce.

Mexican journalist in BC who exposed corruption fears for life

Topics: 
Corruption, Freedom of the press, Mexico, Immigration
Rating: 
3
Karla Ramirez

Tamsyn Burgmann – January 19, 2012

Her voice is strained as Karla Ramirez recounts seeing the butt of a gun, a man telling her she'd better be careful or her body might turn up in an empty lot. Yet she proceeds to name names, defiantly alleging corruption in the highest echelons of a Mexican government ministry that she says she unearthed while working there as a journalist.

"Names are here," she said, thumbing through her book The Talent of Charlatans, at a news conference Thursday. The book was written and published with the help of Vancouver's University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University last July.

Immigrant-investor program in Maritimes collapses in scandal, lawsuits

Topics: 
PEI, Immigration
Rating: 
3

Tamsin McMahon – December 17, 2011

Every year, roughly 60 numbered companies are registered on Prince Edward Island. In 2008 that number suddenly quadrupled, to more than 240, as the provincial government rushed to approve a flood of applications for an immigration program that partnered local businesspeople with foreign investors in exchange for visas, and which was about to be shut down by the federal government.

By the time the island immigrant investor program had ended, more than $500-million had flowed into local businesses, immigration consultants, lawyers and government coffers, the province’s auditor-general later found, a huge sum in a province whose annual operating budget is $1.5-billion.

Senate probe reveals serious gaps in Canada-U.S. border security

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Organized crime, National security, Immigration
Rating: 
3

Julian Sher – December 7, 2011

As Ottawa prepares to sign a ground-breaking security perimeter deal with Washington, the last thing the Conservative government wants or needs are any embarrassing revelations about serious breaches along Canada’s borders.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will announce Wednesday his Beyond the Border action plan with the United States that could see much closer co-operation on such issues as customs clearance, watch lists and border surveillance.

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