National Post (National Edition)

Tax case against former MP adjourned

- KEVIN MARTIN

CALGARY • Former MP Rob Anders’ tax evasion case was adjourned three weeks Friday so his lawyer can review Crown disclosure with him.

Defence counsel Paul Brunnen appeared briefly by telephone in Calgary provincial court on Friday on behalf of his client.

“I would simply like to reserve plea for three weeks,” the veteran lawyer told Judge Paul Mason.

Brunnen said he has been in contact with assigned prosecutor Tyler Lord to discuss the allegation­s against Anders.

“I just received disclosure (Thursday) and would like to review it with my client.”

Brunnen, who waived formal reading of the five charges, adjourned the case to Nov. 20. Anders, 48, did not appear in court and because he was represente­d by counsel was not required to do so.

The longtime Conservati­ve member of Parliament for Calgary West faces five charges stemming from allegation­s he failed to properly report income.

According to a document sworn in support of search warrant applicatio­ns on Anders’ Calgary home and the office of his accountant, the charges relate to rental income the former politician received on four residentia­l properties.

Canada Revenue Agency investigat­or Mojeed Lawal alleges that Anders under-reported his net income between 2012 and 2017 by $750,000.

Anders is alleged to have failed to report rental income of $158,866 in the first two years and “claimed fraudulent rental expenses of $13,850 in 2012 and $20,711 in 2013,” Lawal said.

It also alleged Anders failed to claim taxable capital gains on the sale of two of his rental properties, in 2013 and 2016, in the amounts of $140,910 and $213,676.

According to Lawal’s investigat­ion, it was estimated Anders’ total unreported net income between 2012 and 2017 was $752,694. The allegation­s contained in the investigat­or’s report are not evidence and have not been tested in court.

Lawal also said tax returns Anders filed between 2001 an 2015 showed a net loss in rental income for each of those 15 years, although none of the charges relate to claims prior to 2012.

The report says Anders claimed a net loss on four rental properties consisting of 30 total units every year during that period for a total loss of $858,961.

That amount was used to offset employment and other income, including his salary as an MP, of more than $2.4 million over that decade and a half to reduce his total income to just under $1.6 million and generate $426,356 in tax refunds, bringing his net tax paid to $305,981.

In September, five tax evasion-related charges were laid against Anders covering the 2012 to 2017 tax years.

Anders sat as an MP between 1997 and 2015 and for most of his political career was known for leading the charge against taxes and big government in Ottawa.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada