Canadian may be extradited over supertrucks
Armoured vehicles shipped to U. S. forces in Iraq were faulty, documents suggest
William Whyte once touted his 8,000- kilogram tactical vehicles as among the world’s “most protected” armoured vehicles. And in 2006, the Ontario man and his company, Armet Armoured Vehicles, scored a multimillion- dollar deal to build nearly three dozen of them for the U. S. military in Iraq.
But the former police officer is now weeks away from possible extradition to the U. S., accused of failing to deliver on that deal. Most of the vehicles weren’t sent, and those that were lacked the required bullet and blast protection, say federal prosecutors in Virginia, where Armet based part of its operations.
Court documents filed in Toronto in support of Whyte’s extradition and obtained by Postmedia News paint a picture of a company that was teetering financially and of an owner who cut corners on safety, redirected vehicles to Nigeria for more money and diverted company funds for personal use — causing friction with staff.
In fact it was the company’s one- time president, Frank Skinner, who blew the whistle on Whyte by notifying the FBI, records in Virginia federal court reveal.
Skinner, an ex- Marine, is now working with the U. S. government on a parallel civil action to recover money from the company for the allegedly “substandard” vehicles.
“He had friends serving in Iraq who could’ve been endangered by these faulty vehicles and armour,” Skinner’s lawyer, Paul Lawrence, said in an interview. “He felt some moral outrage about what took place.”
None of the allegations against Whyte has been proven in court.
Court records suggest that attempts to serve Whyte, 69, with the lawsuit have been tough. During one attempt in January at Whyte’s $ 2.6- million, 37- acre ranch in King City, Ont., north of Toronto, a process server claimed he saw a woman inside the home but knocks went unanswered. As he returned to his car, several dogs appeared. A young man emerged and warned that the dogs were “not friendly,” the records say.
“I’m of the opinion that William R. Whyte … is avoiding/ evading service,” the process server wrote in an affidavit.
Whyte “denies any allegation of misconduct” and will vigorously defend the criminal charges against him, as well as any civil claim, his Toronto lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said in an email. He declined to respond to specific allegations.
Postmedia News could not reach Whyte by phone or email. But in a 2012 email to Postmedia, Whyte, who was a police officer in Ontario’s York Region in 1979 and 1980, said he was “shocked at the allegations against me which I totally deny.”
In 2006, U. S. military officials in charge of Iraq reconstruction efforts awarded Armet contracts worth about $ 6.4 million to build 32 trucks to transport Iraqi “VIPs” through “hostile and dangerous” territory. The contracts required minimum bullet- and blast-protection standards and tires that could continue to run after being punctured.
But a grand jury indictment in July 2012 said the company delivered only seven trucks — all past deadline — and none met all the safety requirements. The military didn’t accept or pay for the seventh vehicle. Whyte and his company were charged with three counts of major fraud, seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of false, fictitious and fraudulent claims. Last summer, Canada’s justice minister approved extradition proceedings, which led to Whyte’s arrest in September. Records show he posted $ 1- million bail and turned over his Canadian and British passports. An extradition hearing is set for May 22.