Kevin Martin (Calgary Sun) – Mounties failed to safeguard a snitch who was placed in the witness protection program, a lawsuit filed in Calgary claims.
The legal action, filed under the pseudonym John Doe, says the informant was even jailed for “a substantial term of imprisonment” for conduct committed at the request of his RCMP handlers.
“In the summer of 2006, the plaintiff, John Doe, was asked by the handlers to provide information respecting a target or targets of an ongoing investigation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,” it says. “As a result the plaintiff … attempted to provide the information requested and made contact with some of the targets of the investigation.”
But instead, the man was arrested and charged, says his statement of claim, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by the Sun.
At the direction of the handlers, Doe entered a guilty plea and was given an unspecified jail term in December 2006, says the claim.
The man was unable to mention his involvement in the witness protection program at his sentencing because “such information would become known to the targets and would endanger his life.”
The lawsuit seeks nearly $600,000 in damages, plus a punitive, or exemplary cost, against the federal government and national police force. It also seeks a rare court order allowing the informant to conduct his entire case under a pseudonym.
A statement of defence disputing the unproven allegations has not yet been filed.
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