'Tax audit' set up to stop cop?
TORONTO SUN
Tue, August 17, 2004
A REVENUE Canada tax examiner is accused of ordering a bogus audit of a Peel cop who had issued him a speeding ticket. Police allege that the scheme was intended to force the officer to miss a court date so that the charge would be dropped.
The 29-year-old Mississauga tax man faces several fraud charges and has been suspended from the job he's held for four years.
He is accused of illegally accessing the officer's personal tax records.
"The consequences of risking your job hardly compare to what you would receive for a speeding ticket," Const. Wendy Sims said.
COURT DATE
The cop, Const. Harvey Sham, issued a Highway Traffic Act ticket last September and the matter was set for a June 9 court date.
Sham received an audit notice at his home requiring him to appear at a tax office on the same date.
When he showed up at the office June 9 he was told "the letter was not authentic," Sims said. She alleged the accused also made up a name of an auditor on the letter sent to Sham.
An investigation was launched immediately by police and within Revenue Canada, she said.
'FORGED DOCUMENTS'
"Both the forged document and personal tax information about the officer had been accessed by the accused in order to obstruct justice," Sims said.
At the court date, the accused had someone else appear for him and the case was adjourned, Sims said.
Ronald Radhay, of Mississauga, is charged with uttering a forged document, forgery, obstructing justice and breach of trust.
He has been suspended from the Canada Revenue Agency.