http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081001.wimmi1001/BNStory/NationalHALIFAX — The investigation into a controversial program that allowed immigrants to buy their way into the country has been handed over to the police.
Nova Scotia auditor general Jacques Lapointe would only hint at the specific problems requiring police attention, saying that there were irregularities that went beyond the scope of his probe.
"Without making any judgment on the issues so identified, we referred the matters to the RCMP for their review,” Mr. Lapointe said in a statement released Wednesday morning.
The statement accompanied a report detailing the second phase of his investigation of the program, which was managed by a private firm before being taken over by the provincial government and then suspended in 2006.
Under the scheme, hundreds of people paid $130,500 each to be fast-tracked through the immigration process. Businesses agreed to hire them for six months in return for receiving $100,000 of the immigrant's money, of which at least $20,000 was supposed to be paid back to them in wages.
But there have been numerous complaints from immigrants that the work placements did not match their professional background or were otherwise of little value.
When the first phase of Mr. Lapointe's probe was released in June – indicating that minimal oversight and many of the participating companies were ineligible under the province's own rules – the government agreed to reimburse the monies paid by any migrant who had stayed in the province.
Immigration Minister Len Goucher said then that several bureaucrats have been disciplined, adding that privacy rules prevented his saying how many or what their punishments were. He also said that, despite its many problems, the program still gave most immigrants what they were probably looking for.
"Anyone who came, ultimately, wanted to come to Canada," he said. "I think that their main objective was met."
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