Daughter-in-law,
friend dispute official claim Sgro's accuser
was a no-show
TORONTO, January 22, 2005
CP
Testimony at a detention hearing Friday for the man
who accused former immigration minister Judy Sgro of
influence-peddling contradicted earlier statements by
officials who said he failed to report to authorities
as required.
Immigration officers arrested Harjit Singh late last
month because they said he had violated his monthly
reporting conditions, but he argues he did report and
that his detention is unwarranted.
Singh, 49, maintains he was only arrested and ordered
deported because Sgro wanted him out of the country.
He claims Sgro feared exposure over having promised
him he could stay in Canada if he helped her election
campaign.
Sgro resigned last week, but called the allegations
outrageous.
In support of Singh's claim, his daughter-in-law testified
Friday she was "certain" she was with him
at the Immigration reporting office on Dec. 6.
"My father-in-law passed the sign-in sheet to
the lady that was behind the glass," Harkamal Virk
told the hearing.
"She took the sheet. She held onto the sheet."
Virk's account sharply contradicts evidence from Elaine
McPherson-Porter, who testified Thursday that she took
the sheet, initialled it and returned it right away
to the man in front of her.
The immigration enforcement assistant said it was only
then that she realized from a photograph that the person
at the counter was not Singh, but a man later identified
from another photograph as his son, who is married to
Virk.
McPherson-Porter admitted she was wrong to have initialled
the sheet before verifying the identity of the bearer,
but said she didn't ask for it back because she didn't
want to alert the man that anything might be wrong.
Virk said her husband was at the family-run Pizza Market
that day and requested Immigration video-surveillance
tape be produced.
"It provides the proof that my father-in-law and
I were present on that date," Virk said.
Frederica Douglas, who is chairing the detention review,
said lawyers involved could view the tape, but agreed
with a government request not to make it public for
privacy reasons.
That decision prompted a challenge from two Media outlets,
which Douglas said she would hear Tuesday when the hearing
resumes.
Virk also offered all her savings of $3,500 as surety
if Singh was released pending his deportation to India,
now scheduled for Feb. 2.
The issue of whether he reported Dec. 6 is of special
concern to his friend Harinder Brar, a limousine airport
driver who makes $45,000 a year.
Brar has forfeited $30,000 in surety on the basis that
Singh violated his reporting conditions.
He testified Friday that he drove Singh and Virk to
the Immigration centre near the airport.
"I dropped him off in front of the doors,"
Brar said.
Brar, who is now fighting to have his surety restored,
said he "never had any doubts" Singh was meeting
his release requirements
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