MOTEL OWNERS PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO IMMIGRATION FRAUD
Eight-day trial for siblings Ping Zhong and Yi Zhong set to begin in Charlottetown on Nov. 30
Trial dates have been set for two Charlottetown motel owners who pleaded not guilty to allegedly providing fake P.E.I. addresses to Chinese business immigrants seeking permanent residency.
Lawyer Lee Cohen entered the not guilty pleas in provincial court in Charlottetown on Wednesday on behalf of his clients – Ping Zhong, 60, and her brother, Yi Zhong, 58.
Chief Judge Nancy Orr set the eight-day trial to begin in provincial court on Nov. 30 at 9 a.m. The other trial dates are Dec. 4, 5, 7, 14, 18, 19, and if needed, Dec. 21.
Yi Zhong is charged with four counts, and his sister, Ping Zhong, with two counts, of counselling, aiding and abetting misrepresentation under section 126 of the Immigration and Refugee Act. The siblings are also charged jointly with the same allegations under the act.
It is alleged by the Canada Border Services Agency that 566 immigrants seeking permanent residency on the Island under the provincial nominee program used the siblings’ Sherwood Motel and Ping Zhong’s Charlottetown home addresses between 2008 and 2015 as their own even though they were not living at either place.
The siblings were charged in May. The federal crown prosecutor on the case is Caroline Lirette.
The matter has been scheduled for a pre-trial conference on Oct. 3.