Former RCMP intelligence boss was acting on information from a foreign agency: defence
Media were kicked out of the courtroom before Ortis testified
In a stunning moment in an already extraordinary case, the lawyer for Cameron Ortis — the former high-ranking RCMP intelligence official accused of leaking classified information to police targets — said Thursday his client was acting on secret information sent by a foreign agency.
"Cameron Ortis is no enemy of Canada," defence lawyer Mark Ertel told the jury Thursday morning.
"He protected Canada from serious and imminent threats."
Ertel told the jury they will hear from Ortis that he had a "duty to act."
"His actions were in large part a result of secret information communicated to him by a foreign agency," he said.
"And he's going to be forbidden from telling you what the information was, or what the foreign agency was. So he's defending himself with one hand tied behind his back."
The 51-year-old has already pleaded not guilty to all six charges against him, including multiple counts under the Security of Information Act — the law meant to protect Canada's secrets.
The Crown alleges Ortis used his position as the head of a highly-sensitive unit within the RCMP to attempt to sell intelligence gathered by Canada and its Five Eyes allies to individuals linked to the criminal underworld.
Ertel told the jury Ortis is testifying without access to his work emails and other top-secret documents but "has a compelling story to tell."
"He's not hiding behind the right to remain silent," he said. "He going to say everything that he can say, everything that the law allows him to say, because this is a unique case, where the accused person, unlike every other case, is not allowed to tell you the entirety of the defence."
WATCH | Ortis's lawyer calls closed testimony 'unfortunate'
The court then took a break before the afternoon session. Members of the public, including media, were kicked out of the courtroom and the doors were locked before Ortis began testifying in-camera. A redacted transcript is expected to be released Friday.
A consortium of media organizations that includes CBC News fought the move in-camera, but lost. Other details of the secrecy measure are covered by a publication ban.
"You're going to have to wait until tomorrow for a transcript, which is unfortunate for Mr. Ortis and for Canada," Ertel told reporters outside of the courtroom Thursday morning.
Ortis accused of leaking to police targets
Ortis, a civilian member of the RCMP, was arrested in 2019 after police discovered emails he's accused of sending to Vincent Ramos.
Ramos, the former Canadian CEO of Phantom Secure Communications, had been on investigators' radar for years and was suspected of providing encrypted phones to organized crime and money-laundering operations to help them evade arrest.
"You do not know me. I have information that I am confident you will find very valuable," says one of the emails the Crown alleges Ortis sent to Ramos, who is serving time in the U.S. for racketeering conspiracy.
"I assure you that this is a business proposition. Nothing more."
Ortis is accused of sending Ramos intelligence police gathered on Phantom Secure, and of asking for $20,000 in exchange for more information.
The documents Ortis is accused of sending to Ramos include reports from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), an RCMP criminal intelligence assessment and a document summarizing other western intelligence and law enforcement information on Phantom Secure. The email allegedly sent by Ortis also included information about an undercover agent.
When police searched Ortis's downtown Ottawa condo, they discovered more documents on an encrypted USB key. They include intelligence reports the Crown says Ortis sent to individuals the RCMP was keeping tabs on as part of an international money-laundering investigation.
Ortis, who led the RCMP's operations research (OR) branch, is accused of sharing special operational information "intentionally and without authority" with Salim Henareh and Muhammad Ashraf. He also faces one count of attempting to share special operational information with Farzam Mehdizadeh.
Intelligence reports entered into evidence during the jury trial show the RCMP was investigating those three men and their money-services businesses for potential links to Altaf Khanani, once described in a media report as "one of the world's most wanted fraudsters."
According to the U.S. government, Khanani's network laundered illicit funds for organized crime and terrorist outfits, including al-Qaeda and the Taliban. After entering a plea deal in 2017, Khanani served 68 months in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Documents recovered from Ortis's home include FINTRAC reports and a report from the Criminal Intelligence Advisory Group, made up of police services from the Five Eyes alliance member countries.
One of the recovered documents includes what appear to be notes outlining ways to approach contacts with information.
"10k for the package? Maybe. But perhaps use this as material that could lay the ground work for future business relationship," said one note.
Under "Notes to Farzam," the writer wrote: "You are on a CSIS watch list."
"You (Aria Exchange et al) are targets of DEA/RCMP investigation, the ultimate goal is to get to Khanani and a few others," the notes say. The Crown alleges Ortis wrote those notes.
According to the agreed statement of facts, a package of classified material was mailed to Henareh in 2015. Ashraf told investigators he only became aware of emails from accounts the Crown has linked to Ortis following police inquiries in 2019.
Mehdizadeh fled the country before his anticipated arrest in 2017, according to the agreed statement of facts in Ortis's trial.
Over the past five weeks, the 12-person jury has heard from nearly a dozen witnesses — including former colleagues of Ortis who testified behind closed doors — and has reviewed more than 500 pages of evidence.
Earlier this week Ortis's former boss, now retired assistant commissioner Todd Shean, said Ortis was "one of the smartest people I ever met" and oversaw an "extraordinary" team.
The OR was set up to sift through Canadian and allied intelligence and brief senior decision makers within the RCMP on threats and opportunities in ways that wouldn't expose top-secret information in open court.
But Shean said Ortis was never meant to go undercover or reach out to the targets of a police investigation.
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