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| Mumtaz Ladha |
A Tanzanian businesswoman accused of taking a young woman to Canada to
work as an unpaid maid has been found not guilty on all charges against
her, including human trafficking.
Mumtaz Ladha, 60, was acquitted on charges of human trafficking, two
counts of misrepresenting facts to the High Commission of Canada in
Tanzania and misrepresenting facts to Citizenship and Immigration
Canada.
Ladha was accused of lying to the young woman, whose name is banned from
publication, and illegally taking her to Canada in August 2008. She was
allegedly forced to work long hours without pay at Ladha's West
Vancouver home. Prosecutors had argued that Ladha lied to immigration
officials in order to bring the woman to Canada illegally.
But Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon said the young woman's testimony was not
credible and the Crown did not prove that she was coerced into going to
Canada or working for the Ladha family. The judge added that Ladha had
no reason to hire the housekeeper under the table, but said the
complainant had a motive to lie.
The judge heard that the woman worked for Ladha at a hair salon in Dar
es Salaam, Tanzania's largest and richest city, and believed she was
going to Canada to work in a salon there. In 2009, the woman left
Ladha's mansion and went to a women’s shelter.
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