Lawyers have planned an Aug. 29 meeting at the Nunavut Court of Justice to set a preliminary hearing date for a former taxi operator who was recently criminally charged for filing false invoices.
David Wiseman, 51, is the former owner of S & G Taxi who is facing one count of falsifying documents and one count of using a misleading receipt—these stem from charges laid by the RCMP in May 2015. He also owes over $1.2 million in money lent to him by government lending agencies, reported
Nunatsiaq Online.
In Dec. 2013, Wiseman reported a furnace-related fire in his taxi warehouse to his insurer
Aviva Canada. He claimed then that due to the fire and damage to his warehouse’s furnace, he was required to rent industrial heaters to warm his property, keeping the taxi business in operation. He also claimed that he had incurred cleanup expenses following the conflagration. Wiseman submitted invoices totalling approximately $347,000 to
Aviva Canada.
Although fire investigators determined that the cause of the blaze was accidental, an independent adjuster hired by
Aviva Canada found that there was an inaccurate rental start date and a fictitious vendor name listed on the invoice for the heaters. The adjuster also observed that a cleanup of the property never took place.
"Aviva Canada's subsequent investigation found evidence to suggest that Wiseman misrepresented his loss by allegedly submitting false invoices and attempting to defraud the company of approximately $56,000," a statement from Aviva Canada released last month said.
Last year, a civil suit was brought against Wiseman last year by the Nunavut Business Credit Corp. (NBCC) due to amounts owed to the NBCC in excess of $1,146,197.08.
Following a hearing in Dec. 2015, the Nunavut Court of Justice upheld NBCC’s suit and declared the taxi operator bankrupt in Apr. 2016.
According to contracts filed in the court, the NBCC loaned Wiseman $941,108.52 in May 2012 to finance a garage, as well as new equipment and taxis. Wiseman, however, stopped making payments on the loan in Sept. 2013—two months before he reported the fire to Aviva Canada.
The NBCC also alleged that Wiseman was selling assets, such as vehicles, that were listed in his original security for the loan “with the intent to defraud, defeat, or delay his creditors.”
The original claim in NBCC’s civil suit also claimed that Wiseman owes over $100,000 loaned to him by Kivalliq Business Development Centre.
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