B.C. taking Air India defendant to court for millions owed

Vancouver: The B.C. government is going to court to try to recover the millions it lent Ripudaman Singh Malik to pay for the legal team that won him an acquittal in his Air India bombing trial, the Vancouver Sun has learned.
The Attorney General's office quietly filed its case on Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court against Malik, his wife Raminder, two relatives and two family companies.
The suit alleges Malik has violated the security agreement he signed with the B.C. government to borrow $6.4 million to pay his lawyers when he was on trial for two June 23, 1985 bombings that killed 331.
The suit has been filed against several family properties, according to Land Title records obtained by the Sun, preventing them from being sold or mortgaged.
The properties include the family's home, the warehouse in which their Papillon clothing company is based and the Executive Inn in Harrison Hot Springs that one of their companies owns.
In the fall of 2003, Ripudaman Malik signed an agreement with the B.C. government to borrow money for his legal defence in the Air India terrorism case, using some of his properties and businesses as collateral.
Mortgages totaling $1.6 million were registered by the attorney general against Malik's interest in the family home, the hotel and the warehouse, as well as against shares in some of the companies.
The province seeks to recover the money plus interest from March 26, 2005, until a ruling in the case, even if it means selling the properties.
The lawsuit demands that the government get its money from the proceeds of any sale before other mortgages registered by friends and relatives are paid, claiming: "these mortgages were made with intent to delay, hinder or defraud the petitioner of its just and lawful remedies and are void."
Malik and co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted of all charges in the unprecedented bombing case on March 16, 2005.
Also named as a defendant in the government's lawsuit is Malik's older brother Gurdip, a Californian businessman who tried to sue Malik for money he provided to the Air India legal defence team, as well as a Surrey businessman, Balbir Singh Bajwa, who is a relative of one of Malik's daughters-in-law and also lent him money during his trial. Both men hold mortgages on some of the Malik properties.
27/10/07 Kim Bolan/CanWest News Service/ Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International Oct 2007, Foreign Oct 2007, Safety Oct 2007