Opposition parties are demanding more answers about the extent of GST fraud in the country.

Reports from a CBC News investigation about an alleged case of GST fraud in British Columbia dominated question period on Monday.

Charges before the courts in B.C. allege two men fraudulently received more than $22 million in GST rebate cheques.

Elinor Caplan says her department is cracking down on GST fraud
Elinor Caplan says her department is cracking down on GST fraud

National Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan found herself under attack as the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives focused their questions on the latest allegations. Opposition leader Steven Harper asked Caplan to admit GST fraud is much more serious than the government has let on.

"After months of the revenue minister bragging to this house about the government's record on GST administration, how does she justify this appalling incompetence?"

"It is in the courts today because of the hard work or our auditors, not because of the CBC and not because of the auditor general," she responded.

Alliance MP Rahim Jaffer says the minister, and the government, are hiding the real cost of GST fraud across the country.

"Is she still going to downplay this massive theft as a mere pittance, or is she so incompetent that she doesn't know what the real total is?"

Caplan insists the total adds up to about $25 million, even though just two cases – the B.C. case and another in Ontario – add up to more than $40 million between them.

The auditor general, in a 1999 report, documented how Revenue Canada's own system raised a flag on some of the allegedly bogus claims, but the claims were paid out anyway.

CBC News also reported that most of the cheques were cashed at the Khalsa Credit Union, an institution run by and for members of B.C.'s Sikh community.

The man who founded the credit union, and who was chair when the cheques were cashed is Ripudaman Singh Malik. He is a prime suspect in the 1985 Air India bombing and his lawyers say he won't do an interview.

Alliance MP John Reynolds, who is from British Columbia, asked how it is possible to pay out $22 million without verifying the claims.

Caplan says her department has made many improvements since 1997, when this alleged fraud case was detected.