Trial in Delta school training scam will go on

CALGARY — The trial against an Alberta truck training school instructor who allegedly doled out Class-1 licences to hundreds of unqualified truck drivers will proceed, a judge has ruled.

According to Canadian Press, Provincial Court Judge Bruce McDonald has ruled there is enough evidence to continue with the trial of Jaswant Singh, 55, who is charged with fraud and forging documents.

His lawyer applied to have the fraud charge as well as a charge for breach of trust against the instructor dismissed, CP reports.

In February 2005, police raided the Delta Driving School on suspicion that at least 172 untrained drivers were being put behind the wheel of heavy trucks for fees of up to $2,500. Singh and a medical doctor, Gurdip Bhullar, were arrested. Delta owner Sukdev Singh Brar is also charged with counselling fraud and will appear in court on June 14.

An Edmonton undercover police officer has testified that he intentionally failed a written exam at the driving school, was given advice by the instructor to review his wrong answers, and was subsequently given a passing grade, according to CP.

Defence lawyer Brad Popovic told Cp there is doubt over whether his client is guilty of criminal charges or professional incompetence.

The City of Calgary revoked the school’s business licence last March.

The fallout from the case was far-reaching. Shortly after news of the scam broke out, the government and industry officials announced they would create a pilot program that would train and certify Alberta truck drivers as professionals.

Details of the 37-week training pilot — based on the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council’s Earning Your Wheels program — are still being ironed out.

— with files from Canadian Press