Case provides show time for unexplained wealth order

The provincial Justice Department is putting newly legislated powers to legal test, seeking a court order to force a Sikh religious leader — arrested last year for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his temple’s worshippers — to explain under oath where he got his money.

In a notice of application filed in Court of King’s Bench late last month, the director of the criminal property forfeiture office is seeking the order under recently amended civil forfeiture legislation.

“This is the first unexplained wealth application to be heard in Manitoba. Though the process is new, the unexplained wealth order represents a principled addition to tools available under the (forfeiture act) in accordance with its well-established purposes,” reads a brief filed in support of the application by Justice Department lawyers.

“Unexplained wealth orders, property utilized, will help the director identify proceeds of unlawful activity, take the profit out of that criminal activity and, ultimately, compensate victims of crime.”

The order, if granted, would force 52-year-old Sukhwinder Singh to account under oath in civil court how he came to have the roughly $412,000 in cash Winnipeg police seized in September last year from his private quarters at the Gurdwara Kalgidhar Darbar Sikh Temple.

Singh would also be made to explain how he came to own a paid-off $332,000 house not far from the temple on Burdick Place in Tyndall Park, despite his modest salary of $1,000 a month from the gurdwara, which also provided him food and lodging.

Singh led the King Edward Street Sikh temple for 11 years until other officials at the religious centre grew suspicious he was stealing donations last year.

He was arrested by Winnipeg police in September, after officials at the gurdwara installed a secret surveillance camera that captured video of him allegedly stealing money from a donation box.

The province’s lawyers are expected to argue for the motion at an uncontested hearing this week. They’re also seeking a preliminary preservation order to allow Winnipeg police to hold the assets.

The government’s legal brief said the evidence of Singh’s alleged theft or fraud from the gurdwara is “overwhelming,” though explanations could exist.

“If they do, the respondent Singh is uniquely placed to provide them,” the brief reads.

Singh has been charged with theft over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000. The criminal charges have not yet been heard in court.

The unexplained wealth order will be heard in civil court, where the burden of proof is much lower than in criminal proceedings, in which prosecutors must prove a person’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

University of Manitoba law Prof. Michelle Gallant, an expert on money laundering and civil forfeiture laws, said the low bar required means there’s virtually no question the court will grant the order.

“All they have to show is a suspicion, they have to show that there’s reason to suspect that the cash… is derived from criminal activity,” said Gallant recently.

Gallant said she’s interested to see whether Singh will attempt to explain the cash and property, or if he’ll give up in face of the court application.

NDP Justice Minister Matt Wiebe has billed the new powers, which were included in a bill passed last year, as a means of cracking down on suspected drug traffickers and organized-crime groups. The orders can be sought regarding sums of cash and property worth more than $125,000.

Gallant noted the first test of the legislation is not against a hardened drug dealer or an entrenched criminal organization.

“In a strange way, it struck me as amusing, because all of this stuff about unexplained wealth is about serious organized crime. This doesn’t strike me as serious organized crime, but one person who saw an opportunity and (allegedly) emptied the coffers,” said Gallant.

The new powers also allow investigators to force numbered corporations to disclose information about the owners of a property, business partners and corporate directors.

The new orders come as part of the province’s existing civil forfeiture regime, a process in which governments can ask civil courts to allow them to retain property and other assets, such as cash, that are believed to be linked to crime.

The province has not, at this point, filed forfeiture proceedings against Singh. The wealth order application filings notes the gurdwara has an interest in the cash, having filed a lawsuit against Singh seeking the money back earlier this year.

Similar unexplained wealth legislation has been passed in British Columbia, but Manitoba already beefed up its forfeiture powers in 2021 under the prior Progressive Conservative government, said Gallant.

The amendments under the PCs similarly allowed the province to ask questions about the source of people’s property under oath, but the NDP’s legislative changes added increased “depth and detail” to the powers, she said.

Civil liberties advocates and others have criticized civil forfeiture legislation, over concerns about privacy rights and the low burden of proof required to seize citizens’ assets without criminal convictions.

“It’s one thing to say we can go after the big money… but at what point is it too great a tension on rights?” said Gallant.

“There’s no question (the powers) emanate from this concern that crime, certain crimes, are very profitable, and if we go after the money, maybe that’s a way to diminish or control them…. And if that, simultaneously, means that money is flowing into the public purse, somebody could say, ‘so what?’”

But, she said, questions remain about whether forfeiture laws have had any actual impact on organized crime and drug trafficking.

“We’ve had civil forfeiture laws since 2006 in this province, and somebody would say ‘We still have massive problems with gangs and drugs,’” she said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca