Gurinder Singh Bhatti, a business mogul who co-founded the umbrella company that owns three Academy of Learning campuses currently embroiled in Ontario’s OSAP scandal, was invited to a 2018 diplomatic reception for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Canada’s High Commission in India. The invitation came during a time when his study abroad consultancy — Express Student Services — was still facing criminal charges for visa fraud.
That umbrella company is called Opulence Education Group.
In February 2018, Canada’s High Commission in India hosted a reception featuring the attendance of then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Bhatti posted his personal invitation to the event on Facebook.
At the time, Bhatti was still facing criminal charges arising from a 2013 police investigation into alleged student visa fraud in Jalandhar, India. Almost a year to the day following the High Commission event, Bhatti was acquitted in February 2019 after being given the “benefit of the doubt” by Indian courts.
