ORANGEVILLE, Ontario -

Two Ontario car salesmen will go without their licenses for a year, thanks to a recent ruling from the province’s License Appeal Tribune.

Kien Trung and Mohammed Shaikh, who had been salesmen with the former Mazda of Orangeville dealership — which has since closed up shop, according to the Orangeville Banner — and the store were charged by the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council with “engaging in unfair practice by making an unconscionable representation” in May 2010.

The store was accused in December 2009 of swindling a woman when it sold her a used car with a price tag that far exceeded what the MSRP would have been on a new version of the same car.

Mazda Canada took away the store’s franchise rights, given some of the additional troubles that came to light when the automaker did its own internal investigation and audit in response to OMVIC’s charges.

Mazda Canada told Auto Remarketing Canada at the time that during the investigation, several findings indicated that the dealership “was not adhering to business standards as outlined in our dealer sales and service agreement.”

OMVIC subsequently did a “trade freeze” on the store on May 13, 2010.

Additionally, the store, upon termination, lost its membership in the Used Car Dealers Association of Ontario in the spring of 2010, said UCDA legal services director Warren Barnard.

Barnard told Auto Remarketing Canada on Friday that that Mazda of Orangeville was found to be "not fit to carry on as a dealer" and definitely not as a member of the association.

According to the Orangeville Banner, the two salesmen’s licenses had been suspended and OMVIC was seeking a lifetime ban, but the tribunal — which met for three days late this summer — decided on a one-year suspension when it announced its decision last month.

The tribunal has also ordered them to take a salesperson certification course from the Georgian College by the end of their suspension, which lasts until Oct. 7, 2012.

Tribunal vice chair Harinder Gahir wrote that the salesmen “took advantage” of the buyer, who suffered from a disability, was on several psychotropic medications and lacked knowledge of the market.

“The tribunal finds that the applicant sold the car and the extras to (the buyer) at a grossly higher than market price,” Gahir wrote. “The tribunal further finds that the transaction was excessively one-sided in favor of the dealership, which was a result of undue pressure from the applicants.

“Instead of guiding her through the process in a fair and efficient manner, the applicants took advantage of her lack of knowledge and disability,” the vice chair added.

Mazda Canada provided Auto Remarketing Canada with the following statment on  Friday: "Mazda Canada terminated the sales and service agreement of Mazda of Orangeville on May 13, 2010, because they did not adhere to the business standards under the terms of the agreement. On May 28, 2010, the dealership reopened under new management as Motion Mazda.

"Mazda Canada took decisive action immediately following the charges brought against the dealership by OMVIC and our own investigation. From that point on, the case has been in the hands of the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council, Consumer Protection Act and the Ontario License Appeal Tribunal and Mazda respects any decision made by those organizations," it added.