ORTIS BAIL CHALLENGED
Crown wants accused held
A judge is expected to rule on Tuesday whether Cameron Ortis, the former high-ranking RCMP intelligence official accused of espionage, will be allowed to remain under his parents’ supervision at their Abbotsford, B.C. condominium, or whether his bail conditions will be revoked and Ortis taken back into custody.
Federal Crown prosecutors lodged an appeal in Superior Court last week seeking to overturn the Oct. 22 decision by Justice of the Peace Serge Legault to release Ortis into the supervision of his parents.
Following that decision, Ortis, 47, walked out of the Ottawa courthouse with his lawyer Ian Carter and his parents, who, along with Ortis, each signed a $125,000 bond as his sureties.
Ortis was given 24 hours to surrender his passport and was ordered to report weekly to the nearest RCMP detachment in Mission, B.C., along with a list of court-imposed conditions.
Before his arrest on Sept. 12, Ortis was one of the most senior civilian intelligence officials at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, where he was director general of the national intelligence co-ordination centre. He 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 attempting or preparing to disclose classified information to an unspecified entity.
A publication ban imposed at his bail hearing restricts all evidence given so far in court and any information related to the proceedings. Thursday’s bail-review hearing was also covered by a sweeping publication ban reinforced by Ontario Superior Court Justice Marc Labrosse, who heard the appeal from federal Crown prosecutors Judy Kliewer and John MacFarlane seeking to overturn the lower court decision and remand Ortis into custody.
Carter argued on his client’s behalf in the full-day hearing as Ortis was linked to the courtroom via speakerphone from his parents’ condo.
Neither the RCMP nor the Crown gave public notice of the appeal or of Thursday’s hastily scheduled and sparsely attended hearing.
Ortis was already due to appear in court this week, according to the initial schedule set out by Legault in granting bail, though there were indications Ortis would make that appearance by designation, remaining under a form of house arrest in B.C. while his lawyer represented him at the hearing. In his bail review, the judge could also decide to impose further conditions or revise the ones set by the lower court. If bail is revoked, Ortis would be taken into RCMP custody and likely moved back to Ottawa to be held at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre.
According to his current bail conditions, Ortis must remain in the residence and be supervised by one of his parents at all times, and must not leave the home without one surety present.
His conditions did not include an order to wear an ankle bracelet or any form of personal electronic monitoring device.
His bail plan included no specific provision for the landline in the condo, though Ortis was ordered not to contact or communicate with anyone known to have a criminal record or criminal association, or any witness in the proceedings.
He is forbidden to use, possess or have any access to any communication equipment capable of connecting to the Internet “or any component thereof,” the court ordered, including cellphones, computer tablets or any other device.
All cellphones, computers and tablets already owned by his parents must be password-protected, and the passwords cannot be shared with Ortis.
The devices already in the condo must be kept protected or in a locked receptacle, and according to the conditions the condo was to be equipped with a cellular-connected alarm system installed to the main door of the residence.
Ortis is also forbidden to have any public access to the internet or related devices. Court also imposed a standard weapons ban.
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.
The RCMP also allege 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 2015 and 2019, and that Ortis committed breach of trust in connection with the duties of his office.
The RCMP said the charges stem from activities alleged to have occurred during his tenure as an RCMP employee. The investigation remains ongoing.