Backer pleads not guilty; no word on where he was

Judge to try former investment dealer

Neither police nor the prosecution know where former Olympic rower and mutual fund salesman Harold Backer went when he disappeared in November 2015 and did not resurface until April 2017.

“We don’t know where he was,” commercial crime special prosecutor John Neal said Sept. 27 after a brief appearance in Victoria provincial court. Backer wasn’t there. At the appearance, defence lawyer Joven Narwal pleaded not guilty on Backer’s behalf to two charges of fraud over $5,000 and elected for Backer to be tried by provincial court judge.

Narwal filed a notice of application alleging Backer’s charter rights were breached a number of times during the investigation that led to Backer’s arrest.

The Times Colonist is applying to the court for a copy of the application.

“Those matters will have to be litigated in court,” Narwal said. “In any criminal case, the investigation itself is always an issue. We’re alleging [that] in the investigation, there are breaches of his constitutional rights and that they may very well have an impact on the scope of the trial.”

Narwal did not say whether the alleged breaches took place when Backer was outside Canada. He would not comment on whether Backer will face more charges.

Neal also did not comment on whether Backer could face more charges.

“The investigation is not over,” the prosecutor said.

If the charter application is successful, certain evidence would be excluded, Neal said. “The trial would look different.”

A date for the trial is to be set before Oct. 17. It’s expected that the trial will take place over 12 or 13 days next spring.

Backer turned himself in to Victoria police on April 13. He was released on $50,000 bail.

Bail conditions require Backer to surrender all travel documents and to live with his mother, Anne Randi Backer, in Chemainus.

He has a curfew and must remain at home between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Backer is not allowed to trade or purchase securities other than for himself.

He must resign any positions within the investments market and cannot engage in investor relations.

Shortly after Backer disappeared on Nov. 3, 2015, several clients, including family members, received letters from him expressing remorse for decisions that had cost them money.

Backer’s letter said he started his own firm — My Financial Backer Corp. — in 1996.

He wrote that market-based funds he sold lost as much as 45 per cent of their value during the dot-com crash in 2000.

Backer is also facing a civil action.

The Carr family, who were longtime Backer clients, have filed suit against Backer and his former employer, Investia, claiming he has cost them more than $1.2 million.

The lawsuit alleges that Investia owed a duty of care to its clients to ensure Backer was properly supervised, especially after the Canada Revenue Agency won a judgment against him for more than $200,000 in 2004.

Investia has denied it had any responsibility for losses because the transactions that caused them were carried out by Backer off the books.

In December, a court ordered CIBC, the bank used by Backer, to provide all records, documents, related bank accounts, loan accounts and credit card accounts in the name of Harold Backer or My Financial Backer.