The owners of a restaurant in Nanaimo were awarded almost $1.7 million by the Supreme Court of B.C. in a lawsuit against the Canada Revenue Agency.

In a ruling Friday, Justice Robert Punnett found the CRA 鈥渧icariously liable鈥� for the conduct of an investigator in prosecuting Tony and Helen Samaroo for tax evasion and found that the CRA鈥檚 conduct was 鈥渉igh-handed, reprehensible and malicious.鈥�

In 2008, the Canada Revenue Agency issued an indictment against the the MGM Restaurant for allegedly skimming $1.7 million between 2004-2005 via incomplete reporting of sales summaries. However, the Samaroos were acquitted in 2011 after they were able to plausibly explain their bookkeeping.

In e-mailed communications during the investigation leading up to that trial, CRA employees joked about potential news coverage of a guilty verdict and whether it would 鈥渃all for a guillotine.鈥�

The Samaroos commenced their lawsuit in 2012, positing that CRA employees initiated a prosecution 鈥渨ithout reasonable and probable grounds and with malice,鈥� according to last week鈥檚 judgment. The defendant argued that there was no evidence to suggest that there wasn鈥檛 鈥渞easonable and probable cause鈥� for prosecution, 鈥渘or is there evidence that the defendants acted for a purpose other than to place the case before the court for adjudication.鈥�

Punnett wrote in his judgment that after CRA employees 鈥渓ooked forward with unprofessional glee to the plaintiffs鈥� anticipated conviction and sentencing and their resulting ruination.鈥�

Tony and Helen Samaroo, who no longer live together, were awarded $300,000 each in punitive damages and were awarded $750,000 in punitive damages and $347,732 in legal expenses.

The justice noted that 鈥渘o amount of punitive damages will cause the CRA financial hardship.鈥�