It seems that Ripudaman Singh Malik’s financial future is pretty dim as the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the provincial government is entitled to foreclose mortgages on two properties in which he is part owner: the Executive Hotel in Harrison Hot Springs and a prime commercial property in Vancouver's Yaletown if he fails to cough up $1.6-million within three months. The mortgages were part of the government's financing agreement with Malik.
Also, the Globe and Mail’s Robert Matas reported on Friday that Malik’s lawyer Nathan Ganapathi, who represented him in a six-day hearing in January before Justice Mark McEwan, told him that he plans to withdraw as his lawyer because he hasn’t been paid around $100,000 in legal bills.
But Ganapathi said he expected the B.C. Supreme Court ruling to be appealed.
The provincial government is trying to recover $6.8 million that Malik received for his defence in the Air India bombing trial in which he and Ajaib Singh Bagri of Kamloops were acquitted.
Last year in March, Malik sued the provincial and federal governments for malicious prosecution. He filed documents in B.C. Supreme Court arguing the charges smeared his reputation and caused him financial losses. The writ of summons included only a two-paragraph summary of Malik's complaints against both governments.
"The plaintiff claims damages against the defendants for malicious prosecution, wrongful imprisonment, breach of the plaintiff's Charter rights, conspiracy to injure, negligent performance of duty and damage to the plaintiff's reputation," the document stated.
Last November, I wrote in The VOICE: “As had been expected, the provincial government has finally filed a suit in B.C. Supreme Court against Ripudaman Singh Malik to try and get back the whopping $6.4 million that it lent him to pay for his legal costs in the Air India bombing trial at which he was acquitted. His wife, his older brother, Gurdip of California, Balbir Singh Bajwa of Surrey, and two family companies also figure in the suit. Of course, you can be sure that Malik has no intentions of paying the money back to the government and he has in fact filed a suit against the provincial government for malicious prosecution.”
Let’s see what happens next.
- Rattan Mall
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