Surrey woman accuses friends of $500,000 fraud
Financial dealings complicated by her treatment for brain cancer
A Surrey woman is accusing two realtor friends and their children of defrauding her of $500,000 while she was undergoing treatment for brain cancer.
Manjit Gill filed suit last month in B.C. Supreme Court against Surrey realtors Narotam Dhanoa, who goes by the name Don Dhanoa, and Surinder Dhanoa, as well as their children Bir Kanwar Dhanoa and Navnageena Dhanoa, a.k.a. Neenu Dhanoa. A numbered company allegedly directed by the two younger Dhanoas is also named in the suit.
Gill, who works as a care aide, claims that her longtime friends took advantage of her trust shortly after she was diagnosed with brain cancer. She claims she loaned $500,000 to the family for an investment into a commercial property in Surrey on the understanding that she’d receive a gross return of at least $1 million.
But she claims that cash never appeared. That was a big blow, according to her lawyer, Martin Finch.
Gill had been friends with Don and Surinder Dhanoa since 1981, and had earned large profits after two previous investments with them, according to her statement of claim. In 2005, she grossed $81,225 on a $200,000 investment, and six years later, she brought in a profit of $120,613 on a $286,000 outlay.
But Gill’s life took a significant downward turn in 2012, when she was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had one of her kidneys removed. By the next summer, she’d learned that the cancer had spread to her brain.
Just weeks after the brain cancer diagnosis, the Dhanoas met with Gill to talk about a potential investment in a commercial property near King George Highway and 84th Avenue, according to the claim. The couple allegedly told her the property was worth $17 million, and that an investment of $500,000 would double within six months.
The idea, Gill alleges, was to acquire an option-to-purchase contract that the Dhanoas would then assign to a third-party purchaser within six months. Gill claims she asked for more details, but was told that her friends had signed a nondisclosure agreement.
Gill claims she transferred $500,000 as a loan to the family’s numbered corporation through a company of her own on Sept. 12, 2013. She said she was guaranteed a promissory note, but it never appeared.
Gill had brain radiation treatment and was incapacitated for three months while she waited to learn how the investment had worked out. She claims that she has granted the Dhanoas multiple extensions to repay her loan, and has asked repeatedly for a promissory note, but neither her money nor the note have been forthcoming.
In the meantime, the numbered company that received Gill’s loan was voluntarily dissolved.
Gill is asking the court for an order that the Dhanoas repay the loan, as well as damages for breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and conversion and conspiracy.
None of the allegations in Gill’s lawsuit have been proven in court.
Don Dhanoa told The Vancouver Sun that he has been advised by his lawyer not to speak about the case.
“This is all based on lies, this is all I can tell you,” he said. “Anybody can sue anybody in this country but that doesn’t mean that it’s all truth. We’ll prove it in the court that this is all baseless accusations. That’s all it is.”
There are few details of his family’s defence in their response to Gill’s claim, saying that the Dhanoas “deny each and every allegation … and put the plaintiffs to the strict proof thereof.”
It goes on to claim that the family members were never agents of the numbered company. However, Bir Kanwar Singh Dhanoa is listed as the director in corporate filings.
The family’s response suggests that Gill had been fine with the deal until her son found out about it, and hadn’t asked for the return of the loan or a promissory note until he got involved.