Vancouver real estate developer ‘misappropriated’ millions: Lender

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A major Metro Vancouver real estate developer has been accused in court by a mortgage lender of having “misappropriated” millions of dollars, including tax money that allegedly should have gone to the Canada Revenue Agency.

KingSett Mortgage Corp. has filed two recent petitions in B.C. Supreme Court demanding Burnaby-based Thind Properties pay more than $300 million owed on major condo developments in Surrey, Richmond and Burnaby, totalling almost 1,800 homes pluss office and retail space.

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With the first petition, launched last month, KingSett successfully obtained a court order placing a Surrey condo project owned by Thind under receivership.

In the second petition, filed earlier this month, KingSett asked the court to also appoint a receiver for Thind’s condo projects in Richmond and Burnaby to oversee the sale of their assets and distribution of proceeds. The lender claims a receivership is “necessary to ensure that the borrowers do not abscond with funds due and owing to KingSett,” alleging the borrowers had “already misappropriated funds in various contexts.”

The allegations in KingSett’s second petition have not been tested in court.

Thind filed a response to the first petition opposing the Surrey receivership, but soon after, the court appointed KSV Restructuring as receiver. Thind has not responded in court to the second petition.

KingSett provided mortgage loans to companies connected with Thind for mixed-use condo and office projects in Richmond and Burnaby, court documents show, and the lender initiated the court action on Nov. 8 after the developer stopped making regular payments in September and October.

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KingSett says it is owed $146 million in connection with the Burnaby property and another $74.9 million on the Richmond property. These amounts are in addition to the $85 million owed on Thind’s Surrey property that was placed under receivership this month. Across the three properties, KingSett claims it is owed more than $305 million by companies connected to Thind, racking up $99,431 in interest daily.

KingSett’s petition alleges the Thind-related company behind the Burnaby development “wrongfully retained” $17.7 million, including $10.2 million in funds that should have been paid toward its debt to KingSett but was kept by the developer without KingSett’s knowledge. Thind received another $7.5 million in GST funds from the sale of condos on the Burnaby property and instead of remitting the money to the Canada Revenue Agency, the petition alleges, the developer “absconded with these funds and used the funds for internal obligations, which it would not disclose.”

“This abscondence of funds is concerning to KingSett that given the fact that (the borrowers) are indebted to KingSett for a combined $220,951,550.21” on the Richmond and Burnaby projects, the petition says.

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No one answered the phone at Thind Properties‘ Burnaby offices this week or returned calls. Company representatives, including CEO Daljit Thind, and their lawyers did not reply to emails.

KingSett Mortgage Corp. is a subsidiary of KingSett Capital, which describes itself as “Canada’s leading private equity real estate investment firm,” managing $18 billion in assets with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. KingSett and its lawyers did not reply to requests for comment.

Thind’s Surrey condo project placed under receivership earlier this month was approved by city council in 2020. Roughly 90 per cent of the condos have been pre-sold to date, court filings show, but construction has not yet begun.

After being appointed receiver for the Surrey property, KSV reviewed the financial records of the Thind-related company developing the project and compiled a list of more than 100 potential creditors. In addition to the $85.7 million of secured debt owed to KingSett on the property, the list, which was posted this week on KSV’s website, says the developer owed another $11.7 million to unsecured creditors, including other companies related to Thind, engineering and architecture companies, real estate brokerages and marketing firms, as well as $808,170 to B.C. Housing and $444,665 to the City of Surrey.

dfumano@postmedia.com

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