Lawyer questions motives of key informant
A prominent Saskatoon defence lawyer is questioning the motives of the informant at the heart of a massive guns and drugs investigation.
“I still want to know why the informant has done what he has done by giving information which we believe to a large part is not true,” Morris Bodnar said in an interview outside provincial court Friday.
Bodnar represents at least three of the 16 people charged after a 15-month investigation into two motorcycle clubs — the Hells Angels and the Fallen Saints — dubbed Project Forseti.
In interviews with The StarPhoenix, a former vicepresident of the Fallen Saints, Noel Harder, identified himself as the informant who was feeding information and helping police with their investigation.
Prosecutors and police reportedly now have video evidence as well as detailed minutes of the business dealings between the Hells Angels, the Fallen Saints and the Terror Squad, a local street gang.
Bodnar said before any evidence provided by Harder is taken seriously, the alleged informant’s motivations must be taken into account.
“Why was this done? Why did he make such a deal and why did the police make such a deal?” Bodnar said.
The raids resulting from Project Forseti spanned seven cities in Saskatchewan and Alberta and netted huge volumes of drugs and hundreds of firearms.
Police valued the drugs — including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl pills — at more than $8 million.
Just before Project Forseti culminated in a series of police raids on Jan. 14, Harder and his family were taken to a secret location; they remain hidden under the witness protection program.
One of Bodnar’s clients, alleged Fallen Saints member Armand Hounjet of Melfort, was released Friday on $10,000 bail.
Locals said Hounjet owned two gun stores, one in Melfort and another in Nipawin. RCMP confirmed that at least two-thirds of the guns seized in the Jan. 14 raids were from Hounjet’s business.
Hounjet was initially charged with three counts of weapons trafficking, two counts of possessing a firearm dangerous to the public peace, two counts of illegally transferring a firearm, transporting a firearm in a careless manner, storing a firearm in an unsafe manner, aggravated assault and trafficking marijuana. He was also facing five additional charges related to improper storage of ammunition and fire arms.
“I’m pleased he was released because everything has to be kept in perspective ... the charges were only for a few guns. The rest were all legally owned by him and there was not a problem,” Bodnar said.
Hounjet was released on bail on condition that he have no contact with any of the others charged in Project Forseti or any member of the Fallen Saints or the Hells Angels.