Credit: cbc.ca
A judge authorized the release Wednesday of a few more paragraphs from the documents that police used to obtain warrants for an investigation that led to Mayor Rob Ford’s friend being charged with drug and extortion offences. Rob Ford is mayor of Toronto, Canada’s largest city.
Alexander (Sandro) Lisi, the mayor’s friend and occasional driver, has been charged with extortion, as part of an alleged attempt to obtain an infamous, but unseen drug video of the mayor earlier this year.
Lisi was additionally charged with four drug-related offences, as part of the same investigation.
Media lawyers have sought full access to the police documents in the investigation and have so far been granted partial access to them, in the form of redacted copies of those documents.
The CBC’s John Lancaster was in court on Wednesday when a judge allowed the release of additional paragraphs, some of which described summaries of police wiretaps that relate to the investigation.
The wiretaps were collected during a separate, lengthy investigation, known as Project Traveller, that was initiated before the probe involving Ford and Lisi.
"We now know for sure, 59 people in all, were under wiretaps by police during that months-long probe," Lancaster said Wednesday.
"The mayor, it’s important to note, was not one of them. We will not hear his voice on any of these wiretaps, we’re told."
But the mayor’s name is mentioned on the wiretaps that police reviewed.
Lancaster said the court heard Wednesday that the investigation into the alleged extortion involving Lisi is still ongoing.
Additionally, Lancaster said there are another 20 or so pages that have yet to be released from the documents.
Lawyers for Lisi, the media and Crown attorneys are set to file arguments by the end of the week to indicate they want further access to the police documents.
Editor’s Note: Click on the video clip below to watch Toronto mayor Rob Ford (see photo above) delivering one of his recent rants. He said he was extremely inebriated (drunk) when this video was filmed by one of his friends:
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