The defence lawyer for an alleged confederate of Canadian fugitive Ryan Wedding ceremony has forged doubt on the viability of the case in opposition to his consumer after the reported assassination of a key witness.
Former trucker Gurpreet Singh — accused of serving to to co-ordinate cocaine shipments from California to Canada on behalf of Wedding ceremony’s alleged crime ring — appeared for a bail listening to in a downtown Toronto court docket Friday. He faces extradition to the U.S., the place prosecutors need him to face trial on drug-related prices.
Wedding ceremony, who competed for Canada as a snowboarder on the 2002 Olympic Video games in Utah, was named last week one of many FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives. Authorities are providing a $10-million US reward for data resulting in his arrest.
In court docket on Friday, defence lawyer Peter Thorning raised the prospect that U.S. authorities’ case in opposition to Singh could possibly be “undermined” now that the FBI’s major witness within the investigation will now not be testifying. He stated Canadian authorities haven’t offered a motive for the change of plans.
The witness, a former drug trafficker-turned-informant, was first identified by the Toronto Star as Canadian-Colombian Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia. A longtime affiliate of Wedding ceremony, court docket information counsel the 2 first met after they had been each incarcerated in Texas greater than a decade in the past.
In accordance with Colombian media stories, Acebedo-Garcia was gunned down in a Medellin restaurant in January earlier than he might testify within the sprawling FBI case in opposition to Wedding ceremony and his associates.
In accordance with a abstract of U.S. proof filed in Ontario Superior Court docket, the witness met with Singh and his uncle and co-accused, Hardeep Ratte, at a Toronto-area auto physique store as a part of the FBI’s investigation. On the assembly — which prosecutors stated was recorded — Singh and Ratte allegedly agreed to move bulk portions of cocaine on behalf of Wedding ceremony’s community.
Ryan Wedding ceremony as soon as represented Canada as an Olympic snowboarder; now he’s accused of being a drug kingpin and is on the FBI’s most wished checklist — with a $10 million US reward being supplied for data resulting in his arrest. CBC’s Thomas Daigle traces his stunning path from the highest of the slopes to the underworld.
“It is a case involving a single eyewitness to an important piece of proof on this case, which is the assembly,” Thorning instructed Superior Court docket Justice Michael Dineen.
U.S. prosecutors have warned in opposition to granting bail to Singh, one in all Wedding ceremony’s 4 co-defendants in custody in Ontario. They urged in a latest letter submitted to the Ontario court docket that Singh, 31, poses a “substantial” flight danger, and {that a} latest kidnapping incident suggests he and his girlfriend owe a debt to Wedding ceremony.
“Wedding ceremony shouldn’t be granted entry to a further loyalist by way of the discharge of Singh on bail,” Los Angeles-based assistant U.S. attorneys Maria Jhai and Lyndsi Allsop just lately wrote.
In accordance with the prosecutors, Wedding ceremony took credit score for negotiating Singh’s launch final summer time, after the Brampton, Ont.-born man was kidnapped by cartel members in Sinaloa, Mexico, over a $600,000 drug debt.
Singh’s lawyer, Thorning stated Friday he wouldn’t touch upon all of the “wild statements” earlier than the court docket. However he insisted Singh doesn’t pose a flight danger and must be launched on bail.
“There is not any proof of any means to flee,” Thorning stated.
Earlier within the day, Singh testified from the witness field, talking softly — generally making it onerous to listen to from the general public gallery — in a gray blazer and navy turtleneck. He stated he is made no earnings since his dump truck enterprise went bankrupt in 2021.
Requested by federal Crown counsel Kiran Gill about a number of prolonged stints overseas — together with weeks or months at a time spent within the United Arab Emirates, Colombia and Mexico — Singh described them as enterprise journeys for his girlfriend, with all bills coated by her.
“She was in search of extra areas” for the Toronto brunch restaurant she owns, Singh testified.
In accordance with court docket information, the FBI’s key witness additionally flew to fulfill with Singh final yr in Dubai. U.S. prosecutors allege Singh has “intensive organized crime connections inside Dubai, together with relationships with members of the Kinahan gang, which is a widely known, violent organized crime group working all through the world.”
Singh can be alleged to have been concerned in a scheme to ship stolen high-end vehicles to Dubai by way of the port of Montreal.
Toronto police arrested Singh in October on the thirty fourth ground of the five-star St. Regis Resort. He instructed court docket he’d been dwelling there together with his girlfriend and that she coated hire funds. The girl sat silently within the courtroom for Singh’s testimony.
His bail listening to continues Friday afternoon.
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