Email records could have been changed, Del Mastro lawyer says
Ayotte grills RCMP forensic expert about former Tory MP’s computer
Dean Del Mastro’s lawyer sought to poke holes in the electronic evidence at the heart of the case against the MP on Monday, suggesting that emails and invoices might have been changed, either on purpose or inadvertently.
Lawyer Jeffrey Ayotte suggested possible alternative explanations to Cpl. David Connors, an RCMP computer forensic expert who was testifying about the records he extracted from the laptop computer of Frank Hall, the key witness against Del Mastro.
Last week, the Crown and Connors laboriously worked on establishing the time stamps on the documents, drawing on a forensic analysis of electronic signatures that appears to show when the files were created and modified.
On Monday, Ayotte focused on apparent discrepancies in the records and the possibility that they might have been changed, either by someone attempting to do so, or as the result of a 2009 power surge that caused computer problems for Hall’s company.
Ayotte repeatedly drew attention to the fact that RCMP investigators were not able to do as complete an investigation of the records as possible because Hall set parameters on what they could examine, in order to prevent them viewing other private communications.
“There’s definitely information missing that would have been nice to have,” Connors testified.
Hall has testified that his nowdefunct voter contact firm, Holinshed Research Group, made electoral calls for Del Mastro’s 2008 election campaign, and that he changed invoice dates for that work, at Del Mastro’s request.
Del Mastro and Richard McCarthy, his official agent from the 2008 campaign, are charged with exceeding the spending limit and filing an incorrect financial return. Del Mastro is also charged with exceeding the donation limit. If con- victed, each would face a maximum of one year in prison and $1,000 fine. Lawyers for the two men were in negotiations with prosecutors Monday to settle on a new agreed statement of facts, which would shorten the trial. If the prosecution and defence do agree on a new statement, the Crown intends to present its final witness on Tuesday: Elections Canada investigator Allan Mathews. Crown prosecutor Tom Lemon told Judge Lisa Cameron that lawyers were hoping to agree to a deal under which prosecutors would agree to drop the testimony of several witnesses, if the defendants accepted their evidence without testimony. Two former Holinshed employees, including Colin Hall, Frank’s brother, had been expected to testify.
Last week, Hall and another former employee testified callers at the firm’s Ottawa office conducted hundreds of hours of work for the campaign and filed regular reports to the campaign, emailing spreadsheets that detailed the calls made.
The Crown alleges that Del Mastro paid for the calling with a $21,000 cheque backdated to several months before the election campaign. Evidence introduced last week indicated that several key Holinshed documents were created in October 2008, during the campaign, but dated months earlier, which seemed to confirm Hall’s testimony.
Connors testified last week that electronic signatures embedded in the files would be very difficult to fake, stating he personally wouldn’t have the technical skills to change them. On Monday, he acknowledged that, nonetheless, it would be possible to make changes.
Connors also acknowledged that, theoretically, one key email chain between Del Mastro and Hall could have been changed. When Ayotte cross-examined Hall last week, he didn’t ask questions about making changes to the email chains.
Del Mastro, a former parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has been sitting as an independent since he was charged. He said last week he plans to testify in his own defence.