$1.7M award for B.C. couple after malicious prosecution by Canada Revenue Agency
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.