daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics and Elections

It’s getting to the point where I should really think about renaming daveberta to ritterberta or something like that…

From the front page of today’s Edmonton Journal…

Ponzi suspect plotted escape
Judge: Ex-Alta. official jailed for hiding passport
Charles Rusnell

EDMONTON – Michael Ritter, Alberta’s former chief parliamentary counsel, was sentenced to six months in prison Wednesday after he was found guilty of breach of recognizance in what the judge called a “craftily planned” attempt to evade the potential consequences of serious criminal charges.

Provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser said Ritter employed “deceit and subterfuge” when he wilfully ignored his bail conditions by failing to surrender a Belizean passport in his name and then obtaining a second Belizean passport under an alias.

“Although the offence itself was not the most serious, the manner in which it was committed is,” Fraser said. “The breach was to put himself in a position to avoid the proper administration of justice not just in this country, but in the United States.”

The charge against Ritter stems from October 2003, when a judge presiding over a bail hearing ordered him to surrender all his passports and not apply for any others. Read the rest…

See the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology.

Michael Ritter has been found guity of breaching a court-ordered recognizance that barred him from obtaining a passport while awaiting trial on charges of international fraud… from the Edmonton Journal…

The judge in the case ruled today he knowingly tried to obtain a passport to leave Canada to avoid prosecution on a string of fraud and related charges in connection with an international investment scheme and money-laundering charges.

Ritter, the former chief parliamentary counsel at the Alberta legislature, is accused of trying to change his name to obtain a Belizean passport.

The alleged breach of recognizance happened while he was out on bail, which has since been revoked. He is in custody while awaiting trial on charges of fraud, money-laundering and obstruction of justice.

He has been indicted in the United States for his allege role in a $250-million “Ponzi” scheme, in which people from the United States were enticed to invest their money on the promise of returns that didn’t exist. In such a scheme, money from later investors is used to pay earlier ones, creating the appearance that it is producing profitable returns for investors. But eventually it collapses because there isn’t enough money to pay off all investors.

He also faces several charges in Canada related to his alleged role in laundering $43 million US, stolen from a brokerage firm by a Wall Street trader. Read the rest…

See the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology.

Ritter to learn fate on passport charge

Edmonton businessman Michael Ritter may find out today if he is guilty of breaching a court-ordered recognizance barring him from obtaining another passport while awaiting trial on international fraud charges.

Ritter, the former chief parliamentary counsel at the Alberta legislature, is accused of trying to change his name to obtain a Belizean passport.

The alleged breach of recognizance happened while he was out on bail, which has since been revoked. He is in custody while awaiting trial on charges of fraud, money-laundering and obstruction of justice. Read the rest here…

(Picture: the infamous Adam Michael Phillippe d’Orleans passport…)

(Read the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology)

This one really slipped by me, and obviously the newspapers, too….

The “background” section of this ruling has a decent history of the confusing path of Michael Ritter‘s extradition proceedings.

In short, in October 2003, Ritter was arrested under a “provisional arrest warrant” which is a procedure allowable under the Extradition Act. In granting bail, the Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Lewis allowed Ritter to go on the basis of recognizance.

You will then recall that sometime last year Ritter allegedly applied for a Belizean passport, in contravention of a court order ordering him to surrender all of his passports and not to apply for any others. In February 2006, Ritter along with his lawyer were charged in connection with this passport application; Ritter was specifically charged with “breach of recognizance.”

In the extradition case, Ritter then asked Justice Joanne Veit to declare that the recognizance he originally gave in October 2003 to be voided because of the January 2004 “Authority to Proceed” with extradition issued by the Minister of Justice.

An interpretation of this could be that Ritter wanted this declaration in order to say that since the recognizance he gave was null and void, he did not “breach” recognizance – thus beating the February 2006 charges.

In this ruling, Justice Veit cuts through the procedural mumbo-jumbo to basically say that Ritter’s word he gave in October 2003 to the Court of Queen’s Bench would hold. The effect is to allow the February 2006 charges to continue against him.

Clear as mud?

(See the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology…)

More movement on the Michael Ritter front as Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Joanne Veit wrote in her decision of last week that the court should not routinely interfere with a ministerial order to allow extradition proceedings to go ahead.

The best quote from Madame Justice Veit’s decision can be found in Paragraph 5 of the ruling where she says that:

“unless Mr. Ritter is able to establish an air of reality to an alleged Charter breach or demonstrate that the Minister’s decision is deeply flawed from the perspective of natural justice, his rights of disclosure are limited to the actual extradition issues…”

Here’s the full story from the Edmonton Journal…

Ritter loses key decision in extradition battle
Judge denies request for gov’t correspondence
Bill Mah, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Monday, July 31, 2006

EDMONTON – An Edmonton businessman and former legislative legal adviser fighting extradition to the United States to face criminal charges involving a $250-million US pyramid scheme has suffered a legal setback.

An Alberta judge is denying Michael Ritter’s request to order the federal justice minister to turn over correspondence between the ministry and provincial and federal prosecutors.

Ritter and his lawyer want to see documents relating specifically to the government’s decision to allow U.S. extradition proceedings to continue after charges against Ritter were laid in Canada.

The former Alberta chief parliamentary counsel wanted the court to stay the extradition process or strike the minister’s decision to proceed if the federal government refused to disclose the documents. He argued it was “unjust and oppressive” to defend himself against fraud and theft charges in Canada while at the same time defending against extradition proceedings, all while in custody.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Joanne Veit wrote in her decision of last week that the court should not routinely interfere with a ministerial order to allow extradition proceedings to go ahead.

“On its face, there is nothing irrational or unjust in the minister’s decision to confirm the authority to proceed,” Veit wrote, referring to the federal minister’s approval for the extradition process to go ahead.

The minister’s approval was issued in January 2004. She went on to write that there is no link in law between Ritter’s domestic and U.S., charges.

The United States is trying to extradite Ritter to California to face criminal charges laid in October 2003 for money laundering, obstruction of justice and fraud in a case allegedly involving a $250-million US pyramid scheme in which money from later investors is used to pay earlier ones. Ritter has strongly denied any wrongdoing and is fighting extradition.

Check out the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology.