Former RCMP director had ‘carte blanche’ in past role, jury hears

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Former RCMP civilian Cameron Ortis pretty much had “carte blanche,” meaning he could act with free rein while he was heading up a national-security unit in the force, jurors heard Friday at his criminal trial.

Former RCMP chief superintendent Warren Coons, who was responsible for another unit inside the force called the National Intelligence Coordination Centre, was a Crown witness who testified at Mr. Ortis’s trial Friday. It is being held at the Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa.

During cross-examination of Mr. Coons, Mr. Ortis’s lawyer, Mark Ertel, read a statement that he said was from RCMP Supt. Marie-Claude Arsenault. The statement said Mr. Ortis was “very secretive” and even members of senior management did not know everything being done in operations research.

“He was pretty well given carte blanche,” Mr. Ertel said, reading from the statement.

Mr. Coons, who retired from the force in 2016, said he did not agree that anyone in the RCMP was given “carte blanche.” That is not how the force operates, he said, nor is it in their culture.

“Nobody in the RCMP has carte blanche,” he said.

Justice Robert Maranger, who is overseeing the trial, later told jurors that what was read by Mr. Ertel to Mr. Coons was a statement but it is not to be considered evidence. Supt. Arsenault has not testified at Mr. Ortis’s trial.

Mr. Coons said during the course of his testimony that there was not a “robust” relationship between the unit he led and that headed by Mr. Ortis. Mr. Coons acknowledged that there were some tensions between the two units, but added that this is not uncommon in a professional, high-stress environment.

The role Mr. Ortis played inside the RCMP is critical to his criminal trial.

The now 51-year-old, who was charged in September of 2019, faces a total of six charges, including four that involve allegedly breaching the Security of Information Act. He also faces a computer-related charge and an allegation of breach of trust. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Leaks of secret information ‘happen often,’ lawyer for ex-RCMP official tells court

Mr. Ortis is alleged to have shared classified information with the subjects of international police investigations, including Vincent Ramos, a B.C. businessman who led a company that produced encrypted phones.

Mr. Ramos was arrested in Las Vegas in March, 2018, after an FBI investigation, which also eventually led to Mr. Ortis’s arrest. When officers searched Mr. Ramos’s computer, they discovered an e-mail that contained 10 attachments that were recognized to be documents from the Mounties.

Police identified a series of e-mails from an anonymous author to Mr. Ramos that were sent between February and May, 2015, and in the culmination of these messages, the author asked for payment of $20,000 for full documents.

Mr. Ramos pleaded guilty to providing devices to assist in the distribution of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to Canada, the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Thailand and Europe. In May, 2019, he was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Mr. Ortis’s lawyers have yet to present his side of the case but they have said publicly that he had the “authority” to do everything that he did. They also said he will testify.

Mr. Ertel told reporters outside the courthouse Friday that the issue of who was in charge at the RCMP will be a theme in proceedings, as well as the nature of “significant national threats,” the urgency of the situation and the “failure” of other attempts by the RCMP to solve these problems. The defence sees this information as relevant to the situation Mr. Ortis found himself in as director of operations research.

Mr. Ertel said operations research had a “very unique role” and court is likely to hear “maybe they weren’t well-received” by some people in the RCMP.

At the beginning of the trial, Crown prosecutor Judy Kliewer said the prosecution intends to point to evidence that indicates Mr. Ortis did not have authority to do what he did. She previously told jurors that Mr. Ortis is permanently bound to secrecy and there was no policy in place that allowed for communication of targets of investigations in any way.

A job description for the director of the operations research group – which Mr. Ortis became in April, 2013 – includes an expectation to provide senior executives in the RCMP with awareness on national security and issues involving near-term security threats. It also states that the role involves, on occasion, operating in parallel to a continuing national-security criminal investigation.