Calgary restaurant owners found guilty of defrauding temporary foreign workers

A crest on the Calgary Courts Centre is pictured in Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Three co-owners of a Calgary restaurant have been found guilty of defrauding three temporary foreign workers by overcharging them for Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) documentation.

The Alberta Court of Justice ruled on May 20 that Manikandan Kasinathan, Chandramohan Marjak and Mary Roche defrauded three employees of their business, Marina Dosa Tandoori Grill, of more than $44,000.

Each of the complainants, all temporary foreign workers to Canada, were told the money was to cover the costs of a LMIA.

However, according to the court’s ruling, the real processing fee for the government document, which all Canadian employers must acquire to hire a foreign national, is only $1,000.

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The complainants in the case were Parthiban Ramalingam, Venkatesan Durairaj and Vijayasankar Krishnan.

Justice Sandra Mah heard from all three complainants as well as defence counsel.

In her decision, she was told they worked long hours and days, were verbally and physically abused by the accused and provided with “substandard” housing.

All three were born in India and came to Canada in 2017, 2019 and 2020. They were hired to work as cooks at the restaurant.

Mah said all three complainants were told the employer needed an LMIA to offer them employment at the restaurant and were told it cost $24,000.

The court heard that all three complainants were told if this money was not paid, they could not stay in Canada and would be sent back to India.

Much of the money paid to the accused came as deductions from the employees’ paycheques and they were only informed about the fees about a week after they began working, the court heard.

The full $24,000 took Ramalingam about a year to pay off, Mah wrote, during which he was forced to rent a room at Kasinathan’s house for $400 per month.

The court also heard he was told to do unpaid gardening work at the home.

“Ramalingam paid the $24,000 LMIA money to the accused and cut the grass at Kasinathan’s house without pay because he feared Kasinathan,” Mah’s decision said.

“Kasinathan told Ramalingam there would be no support for a permanent residence status nor support for any spouse.”

‘First place he felt like a slave’

Durairaj only paid $12,000 to the accused and was told in a meeting with them in June 2020 that “the rest of the $12,000 LMIA money had to be paid otherwise Durairaj could not work with them anymore.”

“Marjak told Durairaj he had to pay the LMIA money in the amount of $24,000 if Durairaj wanted his permanent residence and bring his family to Canada,” Mah wrote.

“Durairaj worked in many other countries, but this was the first place he felt like a slave and he felt abused. He felt mentally and physically stressed and pressured.”

Krishnan was introduced to the accused by Ramalingam, who he’d worked with at a restaurant in India.

He was initially told to pay $12,000 for an LMIA, given that he already had a one-year work permit. But that amount soon went up to $24,000.

He also rented a room in the basement of Kasinathan’s house.

“There were three people in the one basement room,” Mah wrote.

“He slept on a mat on the floor and only slept and took a bath there. The other two people in the basement room were Ramalingam and a student.”

Krishan paid $8,000 in cash to the accused and was instructed that if he did not pay the remaining $16,000 LMIA fee, he “would be sent back to India.”

Ramalingam and Krishnan resigned from their positions after acquiring open work permits while Durairaj was terminated from his position.

All three complainants contacted authorities about the situation, including Service Canada and Employment Standards.

Charges were laid after they came forward to Calgary police about the matter.

Complainants owed the accused: defence

The defence claimed all the complainants were not credible, were not vulnerable or abused and were even working together because they were not offered opportunities to settle in Canada or get support for their families.

They also claimed that the evidence submitted was circumstantial and the money paid was to cover costs of food, rent, cell phones, flight tickets and loans.

“Defence submits that any money paid by the complainants to the accused was for repayment of expenses and loans and it is the complainants that owe the accused,” Mah wrote.

She dismissed those claims, including the allegation that the complainants owed the accused for room and board, saying all three complainants “were credible and reliable.”

“I accept entirely the evidence of each of the Crown witnesses as to the events they described,” she wrote.

“In particular, I accept entirely their evidence with respect to the elements of the offence: the accused made false statements, a lie, to each of the complainants by telling them the $24,000 LMIA money was for government fees and everyone must pay it; the complainants were deprived money because of these false statements as Ramalingam paid $24,000, Durairaj paid $12,000 and Krishnan paid $8,000 to the accused.

“The statements to a temporary foreign worker, who has already received a work permit, landed in Canada, and working in Canada that they must each pay a $24,000 government fee for a LMIA, is false.”