The Crown is appealing a Nova Scotia ruling that threw out a decade-long, $1.5-million-dollar fraud case because of what the judge said were “indefensible” RCMP investigation methods.
Justice Denise Boudreau stayed all seven fraud allegations against businessmen Douglas Rudolph and Peter Mill just before Christmas, and said the investigators’ actions in 2011 were “grossly careless.”
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Boudreau had ruled two police officers violated the constitution by talking to lawyer Mark David, who handled some of the money for an accused, about his dealings with clients.
The Crown argued during the trial that the long-standing principle of professional secrecy known as client-solicitor privilege doesn’t apply when the communication furthers a crime.
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David was disbarred in 2009 after the province’s barristers’ society investigated him for his involvement with the CanGlobe Group of Companies and Mill during the 2004 until 2008 period of the alleged frauds.