VANCOUVER -While the Air India case finished long ago – the courts are still dragging controversial Sikh community activist and millionaire over the fees they paid on his behalf during a trial that acquitted him of all charges in the Air India case.
Last week, the B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed as abandoned an appeal by Ripudaman Singh Malik of a ruling ordering him to pay back $5.8 million in his legal fees during the Air India trial, reported the Province newspaper.
Under a series of agreements reached with the B.C. government, Malik had his legal fees covered in exchange for a promise to repay the money.
After the trial, he argued that the funding agreements were executed under duress and were therefore voidable.
But in a summary judgment released in May 2009, the B.C. Supreme Court granted judgment against him in the amount of $5.8 million.
Malik filed an appeal of that ruling shortly afterwards and in August 2011, Malik put up for sale a building he owned a half interest in, on Hamilton Street in Vancouver.
In November, Malik sold the building for $14.5 million, with the province consenting to the sale on the condition the proceeds would remain in trust.
By October last year, Malik had not served the province with the required materials in the appeal, including appeal records, factums and appeal books.
The appeal was returned to the “inactive” list and no application has been filed to remove it from that list, according to a ruling released by the B.C. Court of Appeal.
In a ruling released Friday, B.C. Court of Appeal Madam Justice Daphne Smith said there was a failure by Malik to demonstrate any “bona fide” intention to pursue the appeal and no apparent merit to the appeal.
