The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has issued a $36.9 million penalty to an Ontario business owner for allegedly failing to declare more than 2,300 used vehicles exported from Canada.

The Ontario exporter was believed to be shipping many used vehicles from Canada to West Africa without completing the required export declarations, triggering an investigation in 2021, the CBSA said in a news release issued Monday.

The investigation initiated by the CBSA’s Criminal Investigations Section in Halifax resulted in the execution of two search warrants in London in July 2023.

Items including business and financial records, vehicle titles, bills of sales, bankers’ boxes or documents, computers, cell phones and SIM cards were seized by CBSA agents.

After a careful review and analysis of more than 750,000 records connected with the investigation, the CBSA served the accused a Notice of Ascertained Forfeiture for not reporting the exported goods under section 95 of the Customs Act.

The federal agency said that the penalty is the amount equivalent to the full value of the exported vehicles.

“The multi-million dollar penalty attached to the outcome of this investigation sends a strong reminder to commercial exporters that they will be held accountable for not respecting mandatory reporting requirements and Canadian laws,” Dominic Mallette, regional director general of CBSA’s Atlantic Region said in the news release.