OTTAWA – Mounties suspected that the force’s director of intelligence wanted to get in touch with the head of a notorious international multi-billion-dollar money-laundering network at the time prosecutors allege he attempted to leak state secrets.
His lawyers said before his trial they intend to argue that Ortis had full authority to do what he did.Former RCMP agent accused of espionage pleads not guilty to six criminal charges Though RCMP originally identified multiple suspects, it “quickly” trimmed it down to Ortis specifically, Neily told the court. His team also realized through the investigation that Ortis had not only allegedly tried to leak information to Ramos, but also to members of an international money-laundering network run by Ashraf Khanani.
But Neily says documents his team discovered show that Ortis was communicating with the three men because he hoped to communicate directly with Khanani.