Discipline panel orders revocation of immigration consultant's right to
practice

TORONTO, Dec. 7 /CNW/ - Following two hearings held in April 2010, an independent discipline panel of the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) ordered that the membership of Sukhjinder Sandhu of Mississauga, Ontario be revoked.

"Revocation of membership is the most severe penalty that can be levied on a member, but the panel determined that he is ungovernable," said CSIC Chair, Nigel Thomson. The panel members agreed that to permit him to continue holding himself out as immigration consultant would be an affront to CSIC members who do act in a professional manner and would put consumers at risk of being defrauded by him."

According to the discipline panel, Sandhu engaged in breaches of CSIC's Rules of Professional Conduct that amounted to professional misconduct.

Those breaches included failing to provide clients with written retainer agreements, forging a retainer agreement with a client and providing the forgery to a CSIC investigator, lying to CSIC, his clients and the discipline panel, filing a forged document in Small Claims Court, accepting retainers from clients and then not doing any significant work in return, and delaying a CSIC investigation.

The termination of his membership prohibits Sandhu from acting as an authorized representative. This means that he cannot provide immigration clients with advice, representation or consultation for a fee.

"Disciplining our members is one of the most important aspects of our mandate to protect consumers and today we've shown that we're able to take strong, decisive action to ensure the protection of consumers of immigration consulting services," said Thomson.

The Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants is the professional regulatory body for immigration consultants in Canada. Established in 2004 it currently has almost 1,800 members. CSIC's mandate is to protect consumers of immigration consulting services. Consequently, it is responsible for ensuring the education, competency testing and the discipline of its members. CSIC also requires its members to carry errors and omissions insurance and to contribute to a compensation fund.

For further information: For further information:

Nancy Tibbo, Communications Manager, [e-mail], 416-945-6271, Toll free: 866-308-2742, ext. 2252