Bail decision expected next week in Ortis espionage case
Cameron Ortis, a former high-ranking RCMP intelligence official, will remain in custody pending a judge’s decision on bail, expected to come early next week following a two-day hearing that adjourned Friday.
The hearing is covered by a publication ban that restricts all evidence given in court and any information related to the proceedings, and will remain in place until Ortis is either discharged or a trial is completed.
Justice of the Peace Serge Legault told a courtroom packed with journalists he will consider submissions made by federal Crown prosecutors John MacFarlane and Judy Kliewer, and those made by Ortis’s defence lawyer, Ian Carter, over the two-day hearing.
The justice indicated his decision on whether to grant bail to Ortis should be ready by Tuesday morning.
Ortis, 47, is accused of violating three sections of the Security of Information Act, as well as two Criminal Code provisions, including breach of trust, for allegedly trying to disclose classified information to an unspecified foreign entity or terrorist group.
The former intelligence official remained silent and expressionless in the prisoner’s box for much of the hearing, wearing a dress shirt and dark-rimmed glasses. “The allegations are he obtained, stored and processed sensitive information, the Crown believes with the intent to communicate that information to people he shouldn’t be communicating to,” MacFarlane said at an earlier hearing.
The RCMP laid five charges under the Security of Information Act, alleging that Ortis communicated “special operational information” between Feb. 1, 2015, and May 2015.
According to the charge sheets, the RCMP also allege that between last September and this Sept. 12, Ortis obtained information “in preparation of the commission of (the) offences” and possessed a device or software “useful for concealing the content of information or surreptitiously communicating, obtaining or retaining information.”
He faces two additional charges under the Criminal Code, as authorities allege Ortis fraudulently obtained a computer service between Jan. 1, 2015, and this Sept. 12, and that Ortis, “being an official did commit breach of trust in connection with the duties of his office.”
The RCMP said in an official release the charges stem from activities alleged to have occurred during his tenure as an RCMP employee.
RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki has said the allegations, if proven true, are extremely unsettling, given Ortis had access to intelligence from domestic and international allies.