Pubdate: Mon, 13 May 2002
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2002 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Shannon Kari, Southam News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

'FINK FUND' PROBE KILLS 115 DRUG CASES

RCMP Investigates Alleged Corruption Of City Police Force

The federal Justice Department is continuing to stay drug 
prosecutions without explanation as a 10-month-old RCMP-led probe 
into allegations of corruption in the Toronto police force appears to 
be widening its investigation.

Charges have been withdrawn or put on hold in as many as 150 drug 
cases in Toronto since the fall of 1999 because of the corruption 
allegations.

The Toronto police force and a number of former drug squad officers 
are also facing at least six civil suits seeking a total of more than 
$17-million in damages. The allegations, which have not been proven 
in court, include harassment, kidnapping and theft.

Nearly 18 months after a number of criminal lawyers said their 
clients had money and jewelry stolen during police raids, eight 
former Central Field Command drug squad officers were arrested in 
November, 2000. They were accused of stealing small amounts of money 
from the "fink fund" used to pay drug informants.

The Ontario Attorney-General's office stayed those charges in 
February because proceeding to trial "may compromise an ongoing 
investigation." The eight officers remain on restricted duty outside 
the drug squad, a Toronto police spokeswoman confirmed.

The federal Justice Department, which is responsible for all drug 
prosecutions, confirmed last August that charges had been stayed in 
at least 115 cases. A stay allows the Crown to resume its prosecution 
within one year, but in many cases that period has expired.

Many of the cases stayed originally are believed to have involved 
investigations by a drug squad unit led by Staff Sgt. John Schertzer, 
one of the officers charged in the fink fund scandal.

But court records indicate many of the most recent prosecutions to be 
stayed involved officers from a different unit within the drug squad.

Since July, 2001, more than 20 Internal Affairs detectives, led by 
RCMP Chief Superintendent John Neily, have been investigating the 
corruption allegations at the request of Toronto Police Chief Julian 
Fantino.

Supt. Neily has not commented publicly about the probe and the 
Justice Department has repeatedly declined to explain why any of the 
drug charges have been stayed.

"There really isn't any further information that we can put forward 
at this time," said James Leising, the head of criminal prosecutions 
in the Toronto office of the Justice Department.

A lawyer for a suspected drug trafficker is asking the Justice 
Department, the Ontario Attorney-General and Toronto police to end 
the secrecy in a court case scheduled to begin on May 21.

Documents filed by lawyer Edward Sapiano in Ontario Superior Court 
accuse the disbanded Central Field Command squad of falling "within 
the [legal] meaning of a criminal organization."

Mr. Sapiano's client, Roman Paryniuk, charged in connection with the 
seizures of nearly $160-million of hashish, marijuana and ecstacy, is 
asking for disclosure about any internal investigation into 23 
Toronto police officers.

Mr. Paryniuk claims police stole money during the March, 1999, 
seizure of at least $664,000 from his bank safety deposit box. The 
court documents point to at least two other drug cases involving the 
same team of officers where charges have been stayed and police 
searched a safety deposit box.

In these two cases, court transcripts indicated the officers refused 
to allow bank employees to be present when searching the boxes or 
make an itemized list of what was seized. The bank employees were 
told it was to protect the "privacy" of the accused, or that there 
might be a "noxious substance" inside.

The disclosure request is necessary to establish that the officers 
stole Mr. Paryniuk's money, argued Mr. Sapiano in a written 
submission filed with the court.

"This theft is simply one more step in a long-standing pattern of 
coordinated conduct," Mr. Sapiano said, "for the purpose of stealing 
currency, jewelry, narcotics and other valuables from alleged drug 
dealers and innocent people."
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