Mumtaz Ladha : BC woman acquitted of slavery sues cops

A West Vancouver woman claims her life was destroyed by RCMP negligence that saw unfounded human trafficking allegations leveled against her.

Mumtaz Ladha has filed a lawsuit against the force, and B.C.’s Director of Civil Forfeiture.

“I wouldn’t want it to happen to anybody — not any human being — what we have been through.

Ladha was accused of enslaving a Tanzanian woman who worked as a maid in her multimillion-dollar home, and some of her assets were frozen.

Ladha was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in November 2013 after a BC Supreme Court judge concluded the complainant’s accusations were improbable.

Her lawyer, David Martin, accuses the RCMP of being negligent and misleading in their investigation. He says the charges may have been politically motivated, pointing to leaked US government documents that indicate the United States was considering downgrading Canada on its human trafficking performance scale.

Agencies/Canadajournal