A friend of mine showed great courage and fortitude by seeking justice and redress in the Federal Tax Court yesterday.With a intelligent layman's skill. he sought a resolution of 63 vexing rights issues in Judge Woods court in Hamilton . We wait to see what happens.Whose justice will be served? Will there be real precedent setting law making based on merit with a thinking justice or more of the same - the checked form list legal process?
I admire those that stand firm to their convictions - my friend is such a champion. He is a person who has no fear and is proceeding to defend his beliefs with honour and conviction. Lets see what his critics and the paid drones say and remember Thomas Jefferson.
"He who fears criticism," declared Thomas Jefferson, "is hopeless. Only those who do things are criticized. The idler is lost sight of in the march of events—but the doer is watched and criticized. To hesitate for fear of criticism loses the battle while the doers march on to victory and triumphs.
"If your cause is right, be not afraid of criticism: Advocate it, expound it, and, if need be, fight for it. Critics always will be, but to the strong-minded they are a help rather than a hindrance. As the horse spurts forward when prodded with the spur, so the doers forge ahead under the lash of criticism. Take your part on life's stage and play your part to the end. Stand for that which is good [that which is right]. Be a doer, not a drone. Look the world in the face and let the critics criticize."
In my view, my friend is the victor no matter what the ruling.PR
Showing posts with label justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label justice. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Whistle-blower courage
Whistle-blower faced 10,579 questions
$6M Lawsuit; Discovery 'taken beyond reasonable limits'
Shannon Kari, National Post Published: Saturday, March 08, 2008
In their attempt to show that Joanna Gualtieri was not the victim of harassment and reprisals when she made claims of misspending and waste in the 1990s at the Department of Foreign Affairs, federal government lawyers have already required her to answer 10,579 questions in court.
The former realty portfolio manager at Foreign Affairs has been "examined for discovery" for 31 days over the past several years by Justice Department lawyers defending a $6-million lawsuit she filed against the federal government and eight employees in 1998.
Ms. Gualtieri, a 46-year-old lawyer and mother of two boys aged four and two, first came forward in the early 1990s to suggest that millions of dollars of public money were being wasted by Foreign Affairs at several Canadian embassies.
She alleged that she was ignored or thwarted by her superiors and then shunned, harassed and ultimately moved into a position with no assigned duties.
$6M Lawsuit; Discovery 'taken beyond reasonable limits'
Shannon Kari, National Post Published: Saturday, March 08, 2008
In their attempt to show that Joanna Gualtieri was not the victim of harassment and reprisals when she made claims of misspending and waste in the 1990s at the Department of Foreign Affairs, federal government lawyers have already required her to answer 10,579 questions in court.
The former realty portfolio manager at Foreign Affairs has been "examined for discovery" for 31 days over the past several years by Justice Department lawyers defending a $6-million lawsuit she filed against the federal government and eight employees in 1998.
Ms. Gualtieri, a 46-year-old lawyer and mother of two boys aged four and two, first came forward in the early 1990s to suggest that millions of dollars of public money were being wasted by Foreign Affairs at several Canadian embassies.
She alleged that she was ignored or thwarted by her superiors and then shunned, harassed and ultimately moved into a position with no assigned duties.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Conrad Black gets sentenced-has class
Was justice served? 6.5 years for entrepreneurship- after he left or was forced to leave the media empire and stock declined to little- a phyric victory for the public at best in a lose-lose situation. At least he showed some class
"We have the verdict we have and we can't retry the case," Black told St. Eves in a brief statement before the sentencing.
"I have never once uttered one disrespectful word about this court, your honour, the jurors or the process."
He thanked the judge for her openmindedness, considering that he came in with an "almost universal presumption of guilt."
The former newspaper executive also apologized to shareholders of the defunct Hollinger International newspaper group, the company he was convicted of defrauding. It once controlled a chain of big-city Canadian dailies, the National Post, the London Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post, as well as the Chicago Sun-Times and hundreds of smaller publications.
The Black trial was one of the last high-profile fraud cases in which U.S. prosecutors, stocks regulators and others cracked down on white collar crime in the wake of the Enron Corp. scandal that wiped out billions of dollars of stock value about five years ago.
Besides tough new U.S. rules that required more detailed corporate disclosure to shareholders, U.S. prosecutors also won jail sentences against Martha Stewart, former WorldComm CEO Bernie Ebbers, Adelphia cable group CEO John Rigas and executives of Enron and numerous other companies accused of corporate fraud and wrongdoing.
Earlier Monday, Black had walked into the courthouse confident and smiling in the morning, accompanied by his wife Barbara Amiel Black and daughter Alana Black.
After the sentencing he was still smiling, offering only "No comment," as he left the courtroom with his family and a tight-lipped "the fact that we're appealing speaks for itself," as he and his family edged through a knot of reporters and into the familiar Cadillac Escalade to be whisked away.
Defence lawyer Eddie Greenspan said he was not happy with the verdit and "I'm not pleased today that he got a single day in jail."
"But, given what we came into in this trial, we were facing allegations that included $90 million in (anti-racketeering law) RICO-related fraud and we were facing what might have been tantamount to life in jail," Greenspan said.
"It was a very nervewracking beginning of the trial for somebody who was charged with a non-violent offence. But that's America today. At the the end of the day to end up where we ended up is a hell of a lot better than where we started, but it's not over."
"Conrad has good appeal lawyers and hopefully he's going to prevail on appeal," Black's U.S.-based defence lawyer Edward Genson said as he left court.
"I'm daily impressed by jude St. Eve and I thought she gave us a fair trial and a fair hearing."
Earlier in the day, St. Eve made several rulings that were good news for Black and his team, though denied Black's request to delay the sentencing or strike victim impact statements.
First, she said she would use 2000 sentencing guidelines to determine the sentence, a blow to prosecutors, who were pushing for a sentence under the 2007 guidelines - which could have doubled Black's time in jail.
She also dismissed the prosecutor's request to consider the full amount of the alleged fraud - $32 million - instead of the $6.1 million estimated by a pre-sentencing report.
As well, she added, Black's former partner David Radler was offered a plea bargain to testify against Black his deal under the 2000 guidelines, and he is "at least equally culpable as Mr. Black."
Radler has agreed to go to jail for 29 months and pay a fine and will be officially sentenced next week.
Black's co-defendant Peter Atkinson, chief legal counsel for Hollinger, was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $3,000 fine.
St. Eve dismissed a government's request to consider Black the ringleader of the fraud scheme, saying that "the evidence at trial demonstrates his co-defendant Radler was calling just as many shots in directing, in many instances, where the money was going."
She also noted it was Radler who was in charge of the running media company Hollinger's U.S. operations and ordering the money.
But, she said, she wouldn't consider Black a minor player either, saying that request hardly passed "the straight-face test."
Jeffrey Steinback, Black's chief sentencing counsel, told court that Black is a respected historian and loving father fighting for his soul, whose lack of remorse stems from his heartfelt belief that he did nothing wrong.
Black, he said, is not the bank robber prosecutors claimed but an entrepreneur, writer and devoted husband.
"We have the verdict we have and we can't retry the case," Black told St. Eves in a brief statement before the sentencing.
"I have never once uttered one disrespectful word about this court, your honour, the jurors or the process."
He thanked the judge for her openmindedness, considering that he came in with an "almost universal presumption of guilt."
The former newspaper executive also apologized to shareholders of the defunct Hollinger International newspaper group, the company he was convicted of defrauding. It once controlled a chain of big-city Canadian dailies, the National Post, the London Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post, as well as the Chicago Sun-Times and hundreds of smaller publications.
The Black trial was one of the last high-profile fraud cases in which U.S. prosecutors, stocks regulators and others cracked down on white collar crime in the wake of the Enron Corp. scandal that wiped out billions of dollars of stock value about five years ago.
Besides tough new U.S. rules that required more detailed corporate disclosure to shareholders, U.S. prosecutors also won jail sentences against Martha Stewart, former WorldComm CEO Bernie Ebbers, Adelphia cable group CEO John Rigas and executives of Enron and numerous other companies accused of corporate fraud and wrongdoing.
Earlier Monday, Black had walked into the courthouse confident and smiling in the morning, accompanied by his wife Barbara Amiel Black and daughter Alana Black.
After the sentencing he was still smiling, offering only "No comment," as he left the courtroom with his family and a tight-lipped "the fact that we're appealing speaks for itself," as he and his family edged through a knot of reporters and into the familiar Cadillac Escalade to be whisked away.
Defence lawyer Eddie Greenspan said he was not happy with the verdit and "I'm not pleased today that he got a single day in jail."
"But, given what we came into in this trial, we were facing allegations that included $90 million in (anti-racketeering law) RICO-related fraud and we were facing what might have been tantamount to life in jail," Greenspan said.
"It was a very nervewracking beginning of the trial for somebody who was charged with a non-violent offence. But that's America today. At the the end of the day to end up where we ended up is a hell of a lot better than where we started, but it's not over."
"Conrad has good appeal lawyers and hopefully he's going to prevail on appeal," Black's U.S.-based defence lawyer Edward Genson said as he left court.
"I'm daily impressed by jude St. Eve and I thought she gave us a fair trial and a fair hearing."
Earlier in the day, St. Eve made several rulings that were good news for Black and his team, though denied Black's request to delay the sentencing or strike victim impact statements.
First, she said she would use 2000 sentencing guidelines to determine the sentence, a blow to prosecutors, who were pushing for a sentence under the 2007 guidelines - which could have doubled Black's time in jail.
She also dismissed the prosecutor's request to consider the full amount of the alleged fraud - $32 million - instead of the $6.1 million estimated by a pre-sentencing report.
As well, she added, Black's former partner David Radler was offered a plea bargain to testify against Black his deal under the 2000 guidelines, and he is "at least equally culpable as Mr. Black."
Radler has agreed to go to jail for 29 months and pay a fine and will be officially sentenced next week.
Black's co-defendant Peter Atkinson, chief legal counsel for Hollinger, was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $3,000 fine.
St. Eve dismissed a government's request to consider Black the ringleader of the fraud scheme, saying that "the evidence at trial demonstrates his co-defendant Radler was calling just as many shots in directing, in many instances, where the money was going."
She also noted it was Radler who was in charge of the running media company Hollinger's U.S. operations and ordering the money.
But, she said, she wouldn't consider Black a minor player either, saying that request hardly passed "the straight-face test."
Jeffrey Steinback, Black's chief sentencing counsel, told court that Black is a respected historian and loving father fighting for his soul, whose lack of remorse stems from his heartfelt belief that he did nothing wrong.
Black, he said, is not the bank robber prosecutors claimed but an entrepreneur, writer and devoted husband.
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