Extradit the leader accused of an Edmonton extortion scheme of the United Arab Emirates will be a complex and slow process that will leave its prosecution in Canada in Limbo.
An extradition law expert says that federal officials can rely on an international convention designed to combat organized crime in their attempt to return to Management Singh Dhaliwal to the Canadian soil.
Dhaliwal, 35, is accused of orchestrating a series of Arsons aimed at housing builders in the Edmonton community in southern Asia.
The chain of threats and fires, supposedly directed by Dhaliwal from abroad, resulted in a police investigation of years called Project Gaslight.
Edmonton police requested that Dhaliwal, a Canadian citizen, be extradited to Canada to face the trial.
Months after an arrest warrant was issued throughout the Canada for its arrest in relation to the Gaslight project, Dhaliwal was arrested at the end of last year in the Arab Emirates united by separate positions.
Rob Currie, Professor of International Law at the Schulich Law Faculty at the University of Dalhousie, says that the timeline for the possible surrender of Dhaliwal to Canada is still murky.
“At this point, they have to wait,” said Currie, an extradition law expert. “It is completely possible that you face trial there before being extradited to Canada.”
Ravi Hira, a criminal lawyer who has acted as a crown and defense in extradition cases, said there are many questions about Dhaliwal’s legal destiny.
It would be unusual but not impossible for Emirates to deliver a person to Canada, said Hira.
Countries do not have a formal extradition treaty.
The EAU will ultimately decide if Dhaliwal appears and when he appears in a Canadian room, said Hira. He said that the state of Dhaliwal as Canadian could accelerate the process.
“There is a rules book, but you can give up the rules book,” said Hira.
“They may want them to try and serve the sentence first before accessing any extradition request … They have jurisdiction to decide what is going first.”
Convention of Organized Crimes
As there is no formal bilateral extradition treaty between Canada and the EAU, Currie said that Dhaliwal’s surrender to Canada would be guided by an international treaty that can be promulgated when a case involves accusations of organized crimes.
Canada and Emirates are parts of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, a legally binding treaty.
Currie said the International Convention acts as a backup copy of formalized extradition treaties shared by “more friendly” countries.
With the convention instead, it is unlikely that the Emirates refuse to extradite Dhaliwal, Currie said.
The charges against Dhaliwal in Alberta include extortion, caused fire and other positions linked to commit a crime in association with organized crime, conspiracy to commit extortion and fire caused, as well as in service of those crimes in the name of a criminal organization.
“This is a case of organized crime, clearly. And the treaty was designed to do exactly this, to allow countries that normally do not have extradition relationships when a case arises,” Currie said.
“They will use that treaty, which imposes an obligation in the EAU to extradite it at some point.”
Federal Government officials have received tight lips on extradition procedures.
Officials of the Department of Justice of Canada told CBC that extradition requests are “confidential state communications.
According to the Canada Extradition Law, the International Assistance Group of the Federal Justice Department handles all extradition requests in Canada and functions as an intermediary between Canada and the foreign state.
When asked about Dhaliwal, Global Affairs Canada said that he was only aware of the arrest of a Canadian citizen in the EAU
Edmonton’s police say they don’t know what charges Dhaliwal faces in the Emirates or the state of their case there.
Gas Light Project
The arrest of Dhaliwal and the imminent extradition conclude the investigation of the Edmonton Police Service on the extortion scheme known as Project Gaslight.
The officers investigated 40 incidents, including Arsons, Drive-by Shootings and Crimes of Firearms, but the police say that the crimes have ceased since last July, when the final fire was reported.
The Edmonton police are investigating 27 events in a continuous series of extortion, caused fire and firearms that affect the community of southern Asia in the region. It is estimated that damage to the property of $ 9 million from the award -winning fire and the shootings have been reported.
The researchers claim that Dhaliwal is responsible for orchestrating the scheme from abroad: recruiting people in Edmonton, and paying them to deliver threats and then setting fire when the demands of money transfers were not met.
“This result shows criminals that international borders will not protect them, and we will not tolerate this type of violence in our community, regardless of where it originates,” Eps Insp. Duane Hunter said in a statement last week when the request for extradition was made public.
Case on waiting
Police said Dhaliwal’s case will proceed at the Alberta King court. But the Prosecutor’s Office will remain waiting until Dhaliwal is released into Canadian custody.
If extradition is granted, an RCMP officer would travel to the Emirates to execute an interpol order and bring Dhaliwal home.
They would leave it in custody until a bail audience is established. As Dhaliwal has not been arrested in Canada, the Prosecutor’s Office must be inactive, said Hira.
A criminal procedure in which the person judged is not present can only occur when the charges have already been sworn.
“It has not been treated,” said Hira. “Tests in absence, we don’t do that.”
However, judicial procedures for alleged complicit Dhaliwal are underway.
Five adults charged last year are expected to return to the Gaslight project return to a room of the Edmonton court next week.
