He avoids court despite being charged in multi-million-dollar scam
Sixteen years after being charged with one of the largest real estate frauds in Canadian history, Vancouver developer Tarsem Singh Gill has yet to stand trial.
Despite facing five outstanding criminal charges, Gill has never faced trial and continued his business activities unabated, the Vancouver Sun reported.
Emi Herawati, a 62-year-old widow, said she lost her retirement savings in a deal brokered by notary Jitendra Desai. Desai allegedly advised Herawati to sell her home and invest $200,000 in a mortgage loan on a residential property in Vancouver.
Herawati said Desai assured her that the borrowers were "solid" but failed to disclose that the total mortgages exceeded the property's value. The repayments never arrived.
Unbeknownst to Herawati, Gill was the point of contact for her investment, the same man accused of orchestrating a massive real estate fraud 22 years ago. When repayment issues arose, Herawati repeatedly sought reassurances from Desai, who promised to "take care of it."
In September 2023, a meeting was arranged with Gill, Desai, Herawati, and her friend Mike Brown, who had discovered Gill's notorious past. Confronted about the unresolved charges, Gill told Brown, “They’ve been trying to get me for years. And I’m still standing.”
“When he said that, I wanted to jump across the desk and strangle him. The infuriating thing about Gill’s comment is that it was true,” Brown told the Vancouver Sun.
History of accusations
Gill's legal troubles began in 2002 when Vancouver police launched a massive investigation into a real estate fraud. In 2008, charges were laid against Gill and his lawyer, Martin Wirick, for defrauding victims of $31 million.
Wirick pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to seven years in jail. Gill, however, entered a surprise guilty plea in 2013 but then reversed it a year later. The BC Prosecution Service has been unable to provide a timeline for when a trial might begin.
Despite these charges, Gill has continued to engage in numerous multimillion-dollar real estate transactions over the past decade. These activities have been described as "suspicious" by the Law Society of BC and fraudulent by the Society of Notaries Public. In a civil lawsuit, Gill faces allegations of defrauding investors, though these claims remain unproven in court.
Long-time observer Ron Usher, general counsel for the Society of Notaries Public of BC, commented on the delays: "It’s the ultimate example of how extremely difficult it is to move forward with complex commercial crime cases."
Justice system failure
Many, including victims and legal professionals, are questioning the lengthy delays in Gill's case.
Desai, who facilitated Herawati's investment, is now under scrutiny by the BC Society of Notaries Public for allegedly helping Gill defraud victims over the past decade. Desai’s disciplinary hearing is set for July, but he has not responded to requests for comment or the regulator’s allegations.
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Richard Gibbs, former president of the Law Society of BC, reflected on the broader implications of Gill’s case.
“When I did the road shows and presented about what was going on with Wirick, I would routinely refer to it as a century of losses in one claim,” Gibbs said, noting the unprecedented scale of the fraud and the extensive financial impact on victims.
The persistence of Gill’s activities, despite his legal troubles and ongoing bankruptcy declared in 2002, raises serious concerns.
"Frankly, the public needs to know about Gill," Usher said. "There’s a whole generation of people now who don’t know about the whole backstory. But it’s both a backstory and a current story."
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