The provincial government is suing an alleged drug trafficker in Kelowna, trying to force him to hand over more than $6 million in Okanagan real estate.
B.C.’s Director of Civil Forfeiture, in a civil forfeiture action last week, is suing Kelowna’s Kulwant Singh Bal, targeting six properties as alleged proceeds of crime.
The lawsuit alleges Bal is “a member of a criminal organization, the full particulars of which are not known to the plaintiff.” The civil forfeiture action was first reported by the Vancouver Sun, which says Bal has been associated with people in both the Wolfpack gang alliance and the Hells Angels.
Bal, 45, was charged last year by police in Alberta after an interprovincial sting spearheaded by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team in Lloydminster. That bust also saw Kelowna resident Gary Dhami and four others charged.
The civil forfeiture lawsuit is seeking to seize properties at 3410 Highway 97 North in Kelowna, a home at 6938 L&A Rd. in Vernon, two Kelowna condos, a Kelowna townhome and a rural property, also on L&A Rd.
Bal is the owner of Empire Motors, the lawsuit alleges, which operates out of the Highway 97 property in Kelowna.
The lawsuit also names his spouse Catherine Angela Bal alongside Darshan Kaur Bal and Jaskaran Singh Sidhu.
The lawsuit alleges Sidhu, who at the time was employed at Valley First Credit Union, worked with Bal to accept falsified documents to obtain mortgages that were then used to purchase the properties targeted by the civil forfeiture claim.
“In exchange for securing the mortgages for K. Bal, K. Bal provided financial benefits to J. Sidhu,” the lawsuit alleges, adding cash deposits of over $47,000 were made to Sidhu’s bank account between Feb. 13, 2020 and Oct. 1, 2020.
The Kelowna RCMP started investigating Sidhu for fraud in January 2021.
The lawsuit reveals new details about the police investigation that led to Bal and his alleged associates to being charged in Alberta.
The court documents allege Bal was identified as a supplier to a dial-a-dope drug trafficking line in Lloydminster, Alta. in spring 2021.
On Dec. 15, 2021 and on Jan. 19, 2022, an undercover police officer made half-kilogram purchases of cocaine from Bal at his car dealership on Highway 97.
Then, on March 2, 2022, the officer purchased another half-kilogram of cocaine and a kilogram of methamphetamine from an associate of Bal's named “Gary.” Another purchase for a quarter-kilo of cocaine was made from Gary in April 2022, the court documents allege.
“On about May 6, 2022, K. Bal agreed to launder $25,000 for the [undercover officer]. On May 13, 2022, the [officer] attended the Highway 97 N property and exchanged $25,000 in cash for two cheque totalling just over $25,000, neither of which were from K. Bal or K. Bal’s business," the lawsuit says.
On June, 1, 2022, Bal was arrested and his properties were raided by police. Officers found tens of thousands of dollars in cash, firearms, stun guns, drug sale records, 40 silver bars, designer watches, cocaine, steroids and financial documents.
The lawsuit is also seeking to seize funds held in a number of bank accounts linked to the defendants.
The defendants have not filed a response to the forfeiture claim in court. None of the allegations from the lawsuit have been proven or argued in court.
