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Three restaurant owners who financially abused their immigrant employees were handed jail terms this week by a Calgary judge.
The offenders — Manikandan Kasinathan, Chandramohan Marjak and Mary Roche — were each sentenced to 90-day jail terms, to be served on weekends, after they were convicted of fraud over $5,000.
Kasinathan, Marjak and Roche, who co-owned Marina Dosa and Tandoori Grill in Calgary, will also be placed on 18-months probation and must pay back the $44,000 they stole from three employees.
The sentences follow a piecemeal trial that began in the summer of 2024 and wrapped up in May 2025 with the conviction decision by Justice Sandra Mah.
Victims threatened
The victims, all from India, moved to Calgary between 2017 and 2020 as temporary foreign workers on employer-specific permits to work as cooks at the offenders’ restaurant.
Once here, the victims were told they had to pay $24,000 each for a Labour Market Impact Assessment “for government fees relating to their immigration to Canada,” according to Mah’s conviction decision.
In reality, under the temporary foreign workers program, employers were required to pay a $1,000 processing fee for an employee’s assessment documentation.
Prosecutor Brandy O’Ferrall presented evidence that all of the men were told that if they did not pay the money, they would be sent back to India.
14-hour days
One of the victims, Parthiban Ramalingam, paid the full $24,000 while the other two paid $12,000 and $8,000 each.
Mah heard that on paydays, Kasinathan drove Ramalingam to his bank to deposit his paycheque.
Ramalingam told the court that he would hand over $2,000 in cash for the Labour Market Impact Assessment and $400 for rent.
Kasinathan would then drive Ramalingam to the restaurant to work.
It took Ramalingam about a year of working six days a week for 12 to 14 hours per day to pay off the $24,000.
‘Substandard’ conditions
The victims also lived in the homes of the three offenders, paying them rent.
The accommodations provided by Kasinathan and Marjak were described by the judge as “substandard,” with one of the employees living in a bedroom with two others.
Mah found that the victims were also “verbally and physically abused by the accused.”
Venkatesan Durairaj testified that he worked in many other countries, but Mah noted “this was the first place he felt like a slave and he felt abused.”
The victims ultimately reported the abuse to authorities.
None of the accused testified in their own defence. Their lawyers argued that their clients did not ask for nor receive any money from the complainants for a Labour Market Impact Assessment, and that if any money was paid, it was repayment for expenses such as rent, food, airline tickets, travel or loans.
The judge rejected the defence put forward by lawyers Faizan Butt and Sofian Butt.
