B.C. real estate agent failed to disclose dozens of criminal charges, regulator finds

A former real estate agent committed professional misconduct when he failed to inform provincial licensing authorities that he had been charged with crimes, the B.C. Financial Services Authority has ruled.

Jake Singh Kanda also "withheld, concealed or refused to provide" information requested by BCFSA investigators and submitted a "false or misleading statement" to them, according to the decision published on the regulator's website Wednesday. 

The decision indicates Kanda was charged with nine offences – the specifics of which are redacted in the document – in February 2019.

Another 10 charges were laid in January 2021 and nine more in July 2021, according to the decision.

Relatively few of the charges were proven in court. The BCFSA decision indicates that the 2019 charges and the July 2021 charges were substantially the same, and stemmed from conduct that occurred in 2016, before Kanda was licensed as a real estate agent.

He was first charged with the offences in 2016, according to the decision, but those initial charges were stayed. The 2019 charges were also stayed, but Crown appealed and was successful, which led to the July 2021 charges.

Kanda was convicted of two offences – assault and pointing a firearm at a person – in May 2022, according to the BCFSA document.

The provincial Real Estate Services Act and its related rules require all licensees to notify the BCFSA's superintendent of real estate in writing if they are charged with or convicted of an offence. They must also provide a copy of that notice to their managing broker.

The BCFSA's decision concludes Kanda did not notify the superintendent or his managing broker of any of his charges or convictions in a timely manner, which constitutes misconduct.

The regulator began investigating Kanda after receiving an anonymous tip in August 2019, according to the decision, which finds additional instances of misconduct in Kanda's response to investigators.

A letter from Kanda's lawyer to investigators in May 2021 said the 2016 charges "were withdrawn, because they were false charges" and added that the "court has made the decision to drop the charges permanently, and no longer seek prosecution."

This was a false or misleading statement, according to the decision, because Kanda and his lawyer knew or ought to have known that the underlying matter was still going through the Crown's appeal process at the time.

"The stay of proceedings on the 2019 charges was subject to an appeal that had been heard approximately 15 days prior to the date their statement was made," the decision reads.

Kanda and his lawyer also failed to provide requested documents that would have been in their control to investigators in a timely manner, taking more than a year to do so, "with no explanation for the significant delay," according to the decision.

The decision concludes that the BCFSA has proven all of the misconduct allegations it brought against Kanda, and asks the parties to make submissions about what penalties should be imposed on him.

Kanda, who did not participate in the BCFSA's hearing process, has not been licensed under the Real Estate Act since February 2023, according to the decision.