ORILLIA – Six people have been charged with fraud after a two year investigation into unlicenced commercial driver training by the Ontario and Quebec provincial police forces.
OPP say the schools delivered unauthorized training to students in Eastern Ontario and Quebec using techniques to circumvent the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.
The alleged scheme saw students use an interpreter to complete knowledge tests, non-residents receiving an Ontario driver’s licence and techniques to get by the Mandatory Entry Level Training.
The schools resulted in 200 students obtaining a commercial vehicle licence.
But OPP spokesman Bill Dickson told Brockville Newswatch they instead charged the six driving school operators and left the MTO to deal with the students.
“That’s part of the investigation that was going on. You’ve got these 200 people we have identified and could we potentially have charged them? That’s one of the aspects we had looked at. What we instead did was charge the individuals who were…running the fraudulent operations and then just forwarded all the names of those 200 individuals off to MTO for their awareness and action,” Dickson said.
The six charged with fraud over $5,000 include a 66-year-old from Cornwall and a 68-year-old from Cornwall.
The others are from Laval, Que., Saint Eustache, Que., and Caledon, Ont.
The case is being heard in the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa.