Crown won't reinstate charges against motel owners in PNP immigration fraud case

Lawyers for Ping and Yi Zhong say they've been advised government will not seek to resume its case against the brother and sister, whose trial on immigration fraud charges late last year came to an abrupt halt when the Crown declared a stay of proceedings.

In an email to media, Ping Zhong said she and her brother "were relieved to hear the news that our innocence is recognized."

The Zhongs were accused of aiding and abetting misrepresentation under the federal Immigration and Refugee Protection Act following a three-year investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency. 

CBSA alleged the Zhongs counselled immigrants in P.E.I.'s provincial nominee program to provide a Charlottetown residential address, a motel owned by the siblings, to officials even though the immigrants did not live there.

'Some relief the journey is over'

With the stay of proceedings declared by the Crown last December, the Crown had one year in which it could resume its case.

The news the Crown is dropping the case provided the Zhongs "some relief that the journey is over," according to Donald Murray, one of the lawyers who represented them. But Murray also called it a "very distressing" outcome for his clients, whom he believes would have been found not guilty had the case proceeded.

"They chose after six months to say we can't make this any better but we're not going to give the Zhongs the satisfaction of inviting the court to enter an acquittal, a finding of not guilty," said Murray.

"So that's what my clients have been deprived of, which is very distressing because this whole process was in our view misconceived from the start and it caused a lot of both emotional and financial damage to our clients."

The raid, the interrogations and the unfair charges cost us. ​​​— Ping Zhong

In an email to media Ping Zhong wrote, "The raid, the interrogations and the unfair charges cost us tremendous stress both physically & emotionally.... As a result of it, we lost business opportunities … including a big group booking of over 10 rooms for 16 days."

In the email, Ping Zhong reiterates what she and her brother have said before — that they were just trying to make immigrants, many of whom did not speak English, feel welcome.

"When they came to stay at our motel seeking help, we made every effort to make them feel welcome to the Island. We wanted to show our friendliness and kindness to them just like we received from Islanders."

Contacted by telephone, Ping Zhong said she still gets too emotional talking about what she and her brother went through and declined a request for an interview, referring CBC instead to her lawyers.

2 issues considered by prosecution

A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada would only confirm that a stay of proceedings had been entered in the case, and explained the general process used to determine whether a case should move forward.

"When deciding whether to initiate and conduct a prosecution on behalf of the federal Crown, Crown counsel must consider two issues," the spokesperson said via email.

"Is there is a reasonable prospect of conviction based on evidence that is likely to be available at trial? If there is, would a prosecution best serve the public interest?

"If the answer to both questions is yes, the decision to prosecute test is met. If not, and charges have been laid, the charges should be withdrawn or a stay of proceedings entered."

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