A Brampton immigration consultant with a long history of disreputable conduct, including allegedly taking $95,000 from one family and failing to carry out the work, has been stripped of his professional licence.

Artem Djukic had faced 30 complaints since 2011 — 16 of which resulted in disciplinary action — but the professional regulatory body for immigration consultants decided only in January to remove him from their ranks for providing “misleading” and “erroneous” advice to clients.

Djukic, 55, who operated Soko Immigration and Consulting Services in Mississauga, now faces a charge of defrauding the public, laid in January by Peel Regional Police. So far, investigators have identified 23 alleged victims and say they expect that number will rise. Djukic is scheduled to appear in court later this month.

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Critics say the litany of complaints Djukic faced over the years and the slow pace of action show the profession’s self-regulatory approach to policing consultants has no teeth.

On top of losing his consultant’s licence in January, Djukic had his licence to operate as a paralegal revoked four years ago after the Law Society found him guilty of misappropriating more than $900,000 from clients.

In a text message to the Star on Friday, Djukic declined to comment on the complaints that led to his licence being revoked by his professional regulator — the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council — or on the Peel police charge, following the advice of his lawyer, Dragi Zekavica.

Djukic had opted not to defend himself in the recent proceeding before the immigration consultants regulatory council that resulted in his licence being revoked.

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“Djukic remains unapologetic for all of his ethical transgressions. He has not demonstrated any remorse, acceptance of responsibility or an understanding of the effect of his misconduct on others. Instead, he has chosen not to respond,” said the regulatory body in a 51-page disciplinary order dated Jan. 8.

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“Djukic claims he is unable to do so owing to health reasons, yet when asked for supporting documentation, he failed to produce evidence of any medical issues that prevented him from co-operating with the (investigators). His failure to co-operate demonstrates that he is likely ungovernable.”

Former client Gyorgy Lang took his complaints about Djukic to the regulatory body. He said he had paid $95,000 — in cash and with no receipts — to the consultant between 2011 and 2018 for help with his family’s asylum claim as well as an application to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. For that amount, Djukic also offered to fast-track their permanent residence application, according to their complaint.

Gyorgy Lang, right, with wife Andrea and daughter Agnes, says he paid immigration consultant Artem Djukic $95,000 to help with the family's asylum claim. He says the claim was withdrawn without their consent. They now face deportation to their native Hungary. (FAMILY PHOTO)

Djukic, according to the disciplinary decision, withdrew the Lang family’s refugee claim without consulting them, and never submitted the humanitarian and compassionate application or delivered the permanent residence promised. Lang, 43, his wife, Andrea, 44, and their daughter Agnes, 19, are now facing deportation to their native Hungary, where they say they fled threats by criminal gangs.

“We have suffered so much because of him. We have worked day and night since we came here. We borrowed money and gave all our hard-earned money to him,” said Lang, who is an electrician by trade and runs a landscaping company with his wife. “Money comes and goes. It’s not that important to us. We just want justice.”

According to the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council, since its inception in 2011, Djukic had been the subject of 30 complaints. While a number were deemed unfounded, 16 resulted in disciplinary action. Of those, six complaints filed in 2018 — including that of the Lang family — formed the basis of the decision that led to the revocation of his licence.

The federal Immigration Department would not comment on Djukic’s case or provide a timeline for a new regulatory body for immigration consultants that it is creating.

Last year, the Liberal government announced it was pumping $51.9 million into helping “protect Canadians from unscrupulous immigration consultants” and would establish a new body to police the profession.

The government said the proposed College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants — the third regulator since 2003 — would have the power and tools it needs for vigorous oversight, investigations and the means to discipline fraudulent consultants and hold them accountable.

However, the self-regulatory model will remain essentially the same, which goes against the recommendation of an all-party parliamentary committee in 2017 urging Ottawa to scrap the existing regulatory body and take over policing of the profession.

Critics say the root of the problem comes down to the inability of consultants to govern themselves.

“I’ve seen this over and over in my practice. Some of these consultants are doing so much harm to the public and hurting the integrity of our immigration system,” said Ravi Jain, president of the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration section. Jain is urging the federal government to repeal a law passed last year authorizing the creation of the proposed regulator.

The Immigration Department said the new body will also be given the power to identify and pursue unlicensed consultants, who operate under the radar and are beyond the reach of the licensing body. Currently, only lawyers in good standing and licensed consultants are allowed to offer immigration advice for a fee. Licensed consultants are not bound by any fee schedule and can charge clients whatever they like.

“The government of Canada is committed to taking decisive action to hold immigration and citizenship consultants to account by improving oversight of consultants, strengthening compliance and enforcement, and increasing accountability to protect both the public and consultants in good standing from dishonest consultants who are taking advantage of vulnerable people,” said department spokesperson Nancy Caron.

The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) was created in 2011 by then immigration minister Jason Kenney to replace the original regulator, established in 2004. Kenney said the new body was armed with enhanced investigative powers. At a news conference then, Kenney delivered this message to the bad apples in the industry: “We are onto you. Your days are numbered.”

While the regulatory body, which has seen its members quadruple to almost 6,200 from 1,600, is not going to defend the “inefficient and ineffective manner” in which it dealt with previous complaints and discipline, its spokesperson Christopher May said the revocation of Djukic’s paralegal licence by the Law Society was “an aggravating factor” in the penalty the consultants’ regulator handed down. Djukic was ordered to return $156,510 to six complainants (including the Lang family) as well as pay a $10,000 fine and $73,800 in costs to the regulator.

May said the resolution of the 2018 complaints against Djukic is an example of the type of deliberate effort the regulator is now making to crack down on bad consultants; Djukic was “quickly” suspended last March on the grounds that “his continued registration might result in harm to the public.” The six cases at issue were dealt with within 10 months, May noted.

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“The (previous) department handling complaints bears the brunt of ICCRC lacking federal statute. Without the investigative and disciplinary powers now included in the new College Act, the complaints department has had to work with one hand tied behind its back,” May told the Star in an email.

“ICCRC has over the past two years invested significant effort and resources into that department, increasing staff five-fold, overhauling the process in a manner that allowed it to focus on serious complaints such as those involving Mr. Djukic.”

The immigration consulting industry emerged years ago to fill a need in migrant communities where language barriers made it difficult to access help from the mainstream legal system. Lawyer Amina Sherazee said a new crop of multilingual lawyers and a more robust interpretation service have helped removed those barriers.

Sherazee, who now represents the Lang family, said she has no faith that the new college for consultants will be any different from its predecessors. “We need to ask the question why the consulting industry has failed to protect the most vulnerable. The bottom line is they are ungovernable,” she said.