JUSTICE DEPARTMENT BLOCKED CORRUPTION PROBE - INVESTIGATOR

The head of a high-profile task force probing corruption allegations
against Toronto police drug squads accused the federal Department of
Justice of stonewalling his investigators, in a confidential report
made public yesterday.

"It is safe to say that the stance that the DOJ has taken is both
disappointing and unexplained," wrote RCMP Assistant Commissioner John
Neily in 2004 in a final report sent to the chief of police in Toronto.

The report was issued after Detective Sergeant John Schertzer and five
other Toronto drug squad officers were charged with a number of
corruption-related offences in January, 2004, following an internal
investigation that began in 2001. All charges were stayed by a
Superior Court judge in February because of unreasonable delay. The
provincial Crown is appealing the decision.

The senior RCMP officer was brought in to head the internal Toronto
police task force to probe allegations dating back to 1995 that
officers were assaulting and stealing from alleged drug dealers during
investigations.

The Department of Justice, which was responsible for drug
prosecutions, had stayed or dismissed charges in at least 200 cases in
Toronto between 1996 and 2002. Federal prosecutors told the court only
that there were "disclosure" issues, when charges were stayed.

The federal prosecution service, now known as the Public Prosecution
Service of Canada, said it could not comment on the specific
allegations made in the report. "Federal prosecutors did co-operate to
the extent they could under the law," stressed spokesman Dan Brien.

When the task force began its work in 2001, federal prosecutors were
helpful, noted
Assistant Commissioner Neily, in the report which was obtained by CBC
radio and CBC
News: Sunday and made public yesterday. "The co-operative footing of
the DOJ took a
dramatic change in early 2002," wrote Assistant Commissioner Neily.

Task force investigators were told that the federal Crown would not
hand over investigative records made by drug squad officers because of
Privacy Act provisions. "This put us in the untenable position of
having to execute a search warrant on their offices," the report stated.

Mr. Schertzer and other former drug squad officers filed a $95-million
lawsuit in 2002 against Toronto police, the Ontario Ministry of the
Attorney-General, the Department of Justice and numerous individuals
including federal prosecutors. The lawsuit is still pending.

Soon after, the federal Crown stopped co-operating, Assistant
Commissioner Neily noted. "Recent attempts to interview prosecution
staff have been denied, indicating that these will not occur on the
advice of civil counsel," stated his report.

The Toronto drug squad officers were accused of falsifying notes and
other information related to confidential informants, which would
normally be turned over to prosecutors after charges were laid.

It was key information for the task force, which discovered later that
federal prosecutors stayed most charges involving the unit led by Mr.
Schertzer "with little or no complaint from the police team," the
report stated. Fewer than 20% of the charges filed by the Schertzer
team between 1996 and 1999 resulted in convictions.

Mr. Schertzer was suspended with pay for several years until his
retirement in 2007 after more than 30 years as a Toronto police
officer. He received a more than $1-million lump sum pension payout.

One of his co-defendants is also retired. Three of the four other
defendants remain suspended with pay.