Revealed: how Canada border agency tried to conceal Chinese immigration mega-fraud files from tax collectors

Tax and border chiefs have hailed their cooperation in the case of Xun ‘Sunny’ Wang – but a court ruling shows that auditors had to fight for access to files on his millionaire Chinese clients, that were seized by border agents in raids

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An array of Chinese passports that were endorsed with fake and doctored stamps by Canadian immigration consultant Xun Wang. Wang's tactics helped rich migrants maintain the illusion of their presence in Canada when they were actually living and working in China. Photo: CBSA

Ian Young

Ian Young is the Post's Vancouver correspondent.

Published: 5:45am, 19 Sep 2018Updated: 1:57am, 26 Dec 2021

Last year, Canadian tax collectors and border officers were hailing their cooperation on the biggest immigration fraud case in Canadian history – that of unlicensed consultant Xun “Sunny” Wang, who helped Chinese millionaires fabricate evidence needed to maintain residency and obtain citizenship in Canada.

“The CRA [Canada Revenue Agency] works closely with other law enforcement agencies and departments, including the CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency], to help maintain the integrity of the tax system,” said Elvis Dutra, Assistant Director of Criminal Investigations for the CRA, in a press release about the sentencing of Wang’s staff for their role in the scam. “Tax evasion costs all of us,” Dutra added.

But in contrast to that depiction, a 2013 court ruling reveals how the CBSA resisted the CRA, and tried to conceal the vast haul of evidence about Wang and his wealthy clients, hundreds of whom have since been blacklisted from the country for fraudulent behaviour.

Former unlicensed immigration consultant Xun “Sunny” Wang, in a photo taken by Radio-Canada's investigative programme Enquête as he was leaving his home in Richmond, British Columbia. Wang, who was freed from prison in late 2017, refused to answer Radio-Canada's questions; nor did he respond to a written request for a response left by the South China Morning Post at his home. Photo: Harold Dupuis / Radio-Canada

The failed effort to impede the tax collectors is described in a judgment by Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen; listed as the applicant in pursuit of the files in the Supreme Court of British Columbia is the CRA, while the CBSA is listed as a respondent alongside Wang himself and his firm, New Can Consultants.

Cullen’s April 8, 2013, ruling describes the respondents attempting to withhold from the CRA 90 boxes of files and 18 computers that were seized from Wang by the CBSA in 2012 raids. The CRA’s demand for the material was an invasion of privacy, the respondents said, and the tax agents should be required to demonstrate probable grounds for suspicion of an offence – but not based on the contents of the actual documents being sought.