Feb

3

When Pigs Fly

Posted by at 9:54 pm on February 3, 2015
Category: Canada • Criminal Penalties • Foreign Export Controls

When Pigs Fly by arvind grover [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/arvindgrover/3194476705 [cropped]According CTV’s investigative reporting arm W5, the Canadian Federal Government has agreed to pay a Canadian businessman, Steve de Jaray, more than $10 million to compensate him for damages caused to him by the government’s erroneous prosecution in which it charged de Jaray with illegal exports of items that were not in fact export controlled.

The case began in 2008 when de Jaray’s company, Apex Micro Electronics, shipped microchips used in flat screen televisions and video games to Hong Kong. Canadian customs flagged the items as suspicious. In February 2009, Canadian Mounties (probably not on horseback) and other officials raided de Jaray’s home and office causing, de Jaray alleged, him to lose his business and ultimately his house. Experts hired by de Jaray determined that the items were not export-controlled and Canada stayed, then ultimately dropped, the prosecution.

Interestingly, and not entirely surprisingly, it appears that there are some U.S. fingerprints on the prosecution. Lawyers for de Jaray allege, citing a cable released by WikiLeaks, that just months before de Jaray’s goods were seized, U.S. officials, including a high official from the State Department’s Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, chided the Canadians for their poor export enforcement records and insisted that certain trade concessions might be withheld if the Canadians did not start following the U.S. example and throw more people in jail for export violations.

According to CTV, de Jaray has been living in self-imposed exile from Canada for the past 6 years. My guess is that he’s probably not in the United States. I also guess that the United States would pay similar damages in an export case when, as they say, pigs fly.

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Copyright © 2015 Clif Burns. All Rights Reserved.
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2 Comments:

Clif – I have seen a great many blogs and posts on the heels of Anton Koshani’s W5 episode on my journey – many comments on Steven deJaray – many on my daughter, Perienne deJaray, and many on both sides of the Steven dejaray legal journey and claim against the CND Federal Govt. Your post caught my eye in particular. It is the only one to which I have responded. Why? In short, my daughter and I were merely handed over to the U.S. dept of State – wrongly prosecuted as terrorists and arms dealers – in exchange for U.S. trade consessions and left as cairn when they recieved it. The U.S. is a prosecution founded society with more incarcerations than any other country by a significant margin. Many innocent people are so-incarcerated. Your post entitled “When Pigs Fly” would seem disheartening and discouraging to those who genuinely have been wronged as I was – as my daughter was. Is is tough to do – is it costly to fight a government – is it complex? Yes. But above all else finding a way, any way; standing up for what is the right thing to do, fighting for innocence, family and freedom far and away transcends ANY challenges we may face. Clif – I dare say, “Pigs CAN fly”…
Steve deJaray

Comment by Steven deJaray on February 4th, 2015 @ 10:05 am

At least in Canada the question of if a particular item is exported controlled or not is an admissible line of questioning during the judiciary proceeding there. The U.S. federal case against John Reece Roth related to export-control of technical data to University of Tennessee graduate students, didn’t allow that line of questioning to be entertained -at all- during Roth’s trial. So while Canada admitted it’s mistake and compensated you some serious cash, Roth and I served time in federal prison, and the organizations responsible for the contractual oversight in the AGT/Roth case garnered no punishments all.

As an aside, Roth just got released from his multi-year incarceration a few days ago, he’s now 77. I must say, your pigs in Canada must consume the same thing as those northern reindeer you have of further north of there, because here south of your border, pigs are only slaughtered.

Comment by Daniel Max Sherman on February 5th, 2015 @ 11:35 pm