Motor vehicle salesperson has registration revoked after trafficking stolen vehicles
- Published On
- January 24, 2022
- Category
Toronto, ON, January 24th, 2022 – In a written decision released on December 20th, the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) directed OMVIC to carry out its proposal to revoke the registration of Mr. Amer Al-Ogaili, a motor vehicle dealer from Zara Auto Sales in Hamilton, Ontario. Revoking his registration makes it illegal for him to trade in motor vehicles in Ontario. The LAT found revoking Mr. Al-Ogaili’s registration was necessary to protect the public given his involvement with trafficking stolen vehicles and his failure to indicate charges pending against him on his registration application to OMVIC.
LAT found that based on a balance of probabilities, Mr. Al-Ogaili was in possession of two vehicles that he was aware were stolen and intended for export. In one case, he used his dealer’s plates to move the stolen vehicle to a location where it was being prepared to export. This finding derived from evidence collected as part of “Project Seagull” – an investigation conducted by the Hamilton Police Service from August to December 2019 into illegal vehicle trafficking activities in the region.
Furthermore, Mr. Al-Ogaili knowingly provided false information on his application to renew his dealer registration in 2020 as sole proprietor operating under the name Zara Auto Sales.
A question on the application clearly asks if the registrant has ever been found guilty or convicted of an offence or if any charges are pending. Mr. Al-Ogaili falsely answered “no”, when he had in fact been arrested shortly before in 2019 with several criminal offences for his participation in the stolen car scheme mentioned earlier. He claimed he did not understand that the question applied to him in his personal capacity, although the tribunal found the question to be unambiguous.
In summary, the tribunal concluded that Mr. Al-Ogaili’s past conduct afforded reasonable grounds to believe he would not carry out business as a motor vehicle salesperson in accordance with the law, and with integrity and honesty. The tribunal directed the Registrar to carry out its proposal to revoke Mr. Al-Ogaili’s registration. The full decision can be found on OMVIC’s website.
About OMVIC
OMVIC (Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council) administers and enforces the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act (MVDA) on behalf of the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. OMVIC maintains a fair and informed vehicle sales marketplace by regulating dealers and salespersons, regularly inspecting Ontario’s 8,000 dealerships and 30,000 salespeople, maintaining a complaint line for consumers and conducting investigations and prosecutions (or discipline proceedings) of industry misconduct and illegal sales (curbsiding). OMVIC is also responsible for administering the Motor Vehicle Dealers Compensation Fund on behalf of its Board of Trustees.