BY KEITH LACEY
Lawyers for Pierre Montpellier insist the former financier is innocent and they will prove it at trial?a trial that won?t begin for another six months.
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SANDBERG |
Montpellier is the former Sudbury investment company owner accused of bilking more than 100 investors out of more than $6 million between 1995 and 1998.
Montpellier?s lawyers Norm Williams and Glenn Sandberg also hinted Montpellier?s trial will be heard before a jury outside of Sudbury when it begins May 10.
As reported in the Wednesday issue of Northern Life, the docket at the Sudbury courthouse indicated Monday that Montpellier would be pleading guilty to charges.
To the surprise of many, Montpellier?s lawyers didn?t show up in court Friday for a plea agreement. Instead a trial date was set. The trial will likely last four months at the minimum when it does commence in early May.
?We?re preparing a change of venue application,? said Sandberg. He doesn?t believe Montpellier will be able to receive a fair trial in Sudbury because of the overwhelming publicity this case has attracted over the past five years.
Holding the trial in Toronto would ensure his client has ?complete anonymity? and would receive a fair trial from a jury that knows nothing about the history of this case, he said.
Montpellier did not speak during his brief court appearance Friday. He was wearing a dark suit and appeared relaxed when talking to his lawyers.
Williams said Montpellier never considered a plea agreement because he has not committed any crime.
?My client is innocent?and he looks forward to the day he?s acquitted?so he can get back to having a regular life,? said Williams.
With a crowd of about 30 people listening in, including numerous former investors who allege Montpellier stole their money, assistant Crown prosecutor Diana Fuller told Justice Robert Del Frate any trial in this case will take at least four months to complete.
?If all the complainants are called, it will take at least three to four months,? she said.
If defence counsel were to allow a summary of some of the Crown?s case to be read in, the case could take as little as one month, but it?s her understanding defence counsel wants to challenge every Crown witness, meaning the trial will be a long one, said Fuller.
?Four months may be a little shy,? she said.
It?s been two years since Montpellier was arrested in the small English town of Sutton and charged with 151 counts of theft over $5,000 and 151 counts of fraud over $5,000.
Montpellier has twice been denied bail since his arrest in early November of 2001. He hasn?t enjoyed a day of freedom since his arrest.
He will remain in custody until his trial begins.
Under Ontario law, accused persons are almost always granted two days of time serviced for every day spent in pre-trial custody.
This means by the time Montpellier goes on trial, he will have served 30 months in pre-trial custody.
Montpellier, 41, is alleged to have stolen in excess of $6 million from 108 investors between 1995 and when he left Sudbury for England in late 1998.
Montpellier was a licensed mutual fund and limited market dealer operating a company known as Montpellier Group Inc. in Sudbury from 1995 until his departure.
During the same time period Montpellier incorporated Foreign Capital Corp. as an investment vehicle to raise money from investors to be used in international investments, say police.
Some 108 investors from all parts of Ontario put funds in the company believing their investments were being invested overseas in a guaranteed and secure venture with interest on the investments being paid on a regular basis.
When investors didn?t receive any payments, they contacted several police agencies in the province to complain.
At the time of his arrest Montpellier had been working overseas for a London employment agency as a recruiter, matching clients with jobs.
After a lengthy police investigation, Montpellier was arrested in England in a town called Sutton and arrived back
in Canada Nov. 1.
