Pubdate: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Stewart Bell, National Post Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada) CUSTOMS RIGHT TO SEIZE $300K IN CASH: JUDGE 'Credible Evidence'; Excuse For Having Money Bordered On 'Absurd' When Canadian customs officers found $300,000 stuffed in the jack storage compartment of Lauren Ondre's truck, she at first claimed to know nothing about it. Then she said she wanted it back. Now a Federal Court judge has decided the matter, ruling that the border officers had good reason to seize the cash, and that Ms. Ondre's explanation for how it got there was "bordering on the absurd." In a ruling handed down in Vancouver, Justice Judith Snider said the Canada Border Services Agency had "credible evidence" the money was linked to crime. The dispute began just after midnight on April 2, 2005, when Ms. Ondre's truck was searched at the Pacific Highway border crossing as she was on her way to Vancouver. CBSA officers found 28 bundles of cash, held together with elastic bands. There were 6,521 $20 bills, more than 2,000 $10 bills and an assortment of fives, 50s and 100s. It added up to US$292,195. "I don't know what you're talking about," Ms. Ondre replied when the border officer asked her about it. The money smelled of marijuana, and traces of cocaine were detected on another $1,000 found in Ms. Ondre's backpack. Suspecting they had stumbled across the proceeds of crime, the CBSA seized the money. Cases like this are becoming more frequent as the government enforces a relatively new law that requires travellers to notify Canada customs when they are carrying large sums of cash across the border. Designed to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, the rule does not stop Canadians from moving money in and out of the country, but anything more than $10,000 must be declared. Undeclared cash can be seized. Those who want it back have to apply to the government, or eventually the courts, where more and more such cases are ending up. Between the time the new rules came into effect in January, 2003 and August 31, 2006, the CBSA made more than 5,800 such seizures totaling in excess of $145 million, said agency spokesman Derek Mellon. Vancouver lawyer Alex Stojicevic, who represented Ms. Ondre in her court appeal, said most people get their money back after paying a fine because they are able to show the cash was not derived from crime. But some have a hard time because of the way the law was set up. The CBSA can seize money if its officers have reasonable grounds to suspect it is the proceeds of crime. But to get it back, a citizen has to prove beyond doubt that it wasn't. "Really what the court ruled in Ondre and in the other cases is that basically once a reasonable suspicion has been established, then basically you have to cancel all doubt," he said. Two months after the cash was seized from her truck, Ms. Ondre applied to have her money returned. By way of explanation, she presented affidavits sworn by a California lawyer, Thomas J. Ballanco. The affidavits said the money belonged to investors who were funding legal action against the U.S. government for alleged violations of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The money was supposedly to be used to pay the legal fees of a Canadian lawyer. Mr. Ondre was described as an agent for an association of investors who were to receive a portion of the proceeds of the lawsuit if it was successful. "The association was basically funding a NAFTA tribunal case and that was the purpose of the cash," Mr. Stojicevic said. "My understanding was that this was on behalf of a bankrupt hemp company that wanted to do a NAFTA challenge." But the CBSA was wary of the explanation. A Customs officer working on the case pointed out that a Canadian lawyer (not Mr. Stojicevic) who represented Ms. Ondre "is one who works primarily for clients involved in marijuana grow operations and is dedicated to such matters as advocating the decriminalization of marijuana." Another concern was a business card found in Ms. Ondre's car during the border search. It was the card of Devin Coverdale, who the court decision said had been stopped at the border on May 3, 2005 with US$27,900 in undeclared currency hidden in the air duct system of his truck. A CBSA regional intelligence officer identified Mr. Coverdale as "linked to a group involved in cannabis smuggling between British Columbia and Washington State," the judge wrote. On March 26, 2006, the government ruled that the seizure was justified. "The manner of concealment, the fact that there are safer means of transporting currency across an international border, that the money was not packaged consistent with having been received from a financial institution and that some of the money tested positive for and had a strong odor of drugs, are reasonable grounds to suspect proceeds of crime," the agency wrote. Ms. Ondre took the case to court, but the judge dismissed her appeal on April 27, although the decision has not been reported until now. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake