Former Salt River FN financial advisor ordered to hand over banking data

A judge has ordered a former financial advisor of the Salt River First Nation in Fort Smith, N.W.T., to reveal almost all of his personal financial information in the latest ruling in a lawsuit that's gone on for about five years.

The First Nation is suing two dozen people and companies, including former band councillors. The suit alleges the band was fraudulently charged and is asking for more than $700,000.

Last week, N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Virginia Schuler ordered former Salt River financial advisor Ram Mudalier to produce his personal income tax returns, credit card statements and other personal financial information from 2002 and 2008. He also has to produce copies of cheques his company gave to his wife and daughter.

The ruling comes after Mudalier refused to provide the information during part of the civil case where each side gets to question the other formally, but outside of the courtroom.

Justice Virginia Schuler also ordered Mudalier to turn over T4 slips detailing his income as an instructor for Aurora College at that time. Mudalier had argued that the information was irrelevant, but Schuler disagreed, saying that income is part of a full picture of his finances that is important to the case. 

Mudalier, who now lives in Edmonton, says all of the payments he and his company received from the band were legitimate.

He says the lawsuit amounts to harassment by chief Frieda Martselos.

'It really is an injustice'

Mudalier's lawyer, who is also representing a number of other defendants in the case, says the case should never have been launched.

"It really is an injustice in our view in having band resources used to pursue and in my client's words, to persecute them," says Edmonton-based lawyer Steven Cooper. "That really, in the view of many, is what's happening here."

Cooper says his clients are at a disadvantage, because they have limited finances to draw on to defend themselves compared to the money the band has available.

Chief Martselos did not return calls from CBC News.

Forensic audit not public

The lawsuit is based on a forensic audit ordered by the band, and alleges more than $700,000 of band money was misappropriated by two dozen different individuals and corporations, including a former chief and band councillors and Mudalier.

The forensic audit has never been released to the public, and the public is not allowed to view the court file. Last September, Chief Martselos says she handed the audit to the RCMP for investigation, but no charges were laid.

In 2013 and 2014, the First Nation spent a total of just over $900,000 on another forensic audit.