Broker guilty of defrauding CRA

A Brampton mortgage broker has been jailed for fraud, specifically using the personal information of clients to cheat, of all people, the taxman.

A Brampton mortgage broker has been jailed for fraud, specifically using the personal information of clients to cheat, of all people, the taxman.

In the Ontario Court of Justice, Harinarain Mathur was sentenced to serve 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to fraud charges of theft over $5,000 in January.

A Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) investigation showed that Mathur, a licensed real estate and mortgage agent who operated HR Accounting and Tax Services, prepared false T4s and filed 292 fraudulent personal income tax returns for the 2010 and 2011 tax periods. 

According to CRA, Mathur used social insurance numbers and other personal information gathered from numerous mortgage applications to file the fake returns. He also filed fraudulent income tax returns with fake T4s and phony rent receipts.

Mathur was also claiming refunds of approximately $1,000 for each of the returns he filed on behalf of unsuspecting taxpayers and used mailboxes he rented to collect the refund cheques for himself, according to court records.

For more information, visit the CRA website at www.cra.gc.ca/convictions.