Mississauga and Thornhill residents charged in an alleged $7.2 million tax fraud
Published August 16, 2022 at 2:04 pm
A Mississauga resident is charged for allegedly not paying $7.2 million in owed taxes.
Kwang Won Lee of Mississauga and Sung Oh Chung of Thornhill were charged on June 14 with six counts of fraud in an amount greater than $5,000 under the Criminal Code, according to a press release, dated Aug. 16, from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
The two men served as directors of Talent Savvies Inc., a Toronto temporary staffing agency. Lee was the sole director of another agency, Sovereign Staffing Inc.
The phone number listed for Talent Savvies Inc. is no longer in service. Sovereign Staffing Inc. could not be reached by phone.
The CRA alleges both companies evaded taxes by underreporting corporate taxable income earned and goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) collected.
The fraud happened over a five-year period from 2012 to 2016 and totalled more than $7.2 million in tax evaded.
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In addition to the charges related to the companies, both Lee and Chung were charged with underreporting income in their individual income tax returns for the years from 2012 to 2016.
Lee and Chung were both arrested on June 15 and were released on bail under court-imposed conditions.
The charges have not yet been proven in court.
Tax evasion is a crime. Falsifying records and claims, wilfully not reporting income, or inflating expenses can lead to criminal charges, prosecution, court ordered fines, jail time, and a criminal record, the CRA notes.
From April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, there were 23 convictions, with court imposed fines totalling $3,303,110. These taxpayers were sentenced for wilfully evading payment amounts totalling $4,407,386 in federal tax. Out of the 23 convictions, 10 individuals were sent to jail for a total of 15.3 years.
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