Ontario ‘cocaine lawyer’ accused in Ryan Wedding case to stay out on bail after court dismisses review

A Toronto-area lawyer accused of advising the murder of a federal witness in an alleged international drug smuggling ring will stay out on bail after Ontario’s top court rejected the Crown’s bid to overturn his release.

Lawyers for the Attorney General of Canada had asked the Ontario Court of Appeal to order Deepak Paradkar’s detention until his extradition hearing, arguing the judge who granted the lawyer bail last December “speculated and drew inferences” not grounded in evidence.

Prosecutors argued the intervention was necessary to “salvage the public’s confidence in the administration of justice,” protect the public and make sure Canada could meet its treaty obligations in the case.

Both the Crown and the defence also sought to have new evidence admitted as part of the bail review, which was heard in April.

In a decision released today, the Appeal Court agreed to admit the new evidence, including revised documents prepared by American authorities.

However, the court dismissed the Crown’s application for review, finding no errors in Superior Court Justice Peter Bawden’s approach and decision.

Paradkar was one of several Canadians arrested for extradition to the United States last fall, part of a lengthy FBI effort to close in on one of its then-most wanted fugitives, the former Canadian athlete Ryan Wedding.

He has defended clients in several drug cases, advertising himself on Instagram as @cocaine_lawyer on social media.

Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder now accused of running an international drug empire, was taken into U.S. custody in January.

Prosecutors allege Paradkar, a defence lawyer based in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill, advised Wedding on the killing of a federal witness and introduced the alleged kingpin to drug traffickers who moved product through North America.

It’s also alleged he directed intelligence gathering after the organization’s drugs were seized by law enforcement.

Just before Christmas, Bawden ruled to release Paradkar on bail, with conditions that include house arrest, GPS monitoring and a prohibition on the use of electronic devices unless supervised by one of his sureties.

Paradkar’s wife is his primary surety, and the couple has jointly pledged $5 million for his release.

The FBI says Wedding and Andrew Clark, another Canadian, ordered the deaths of Caledon couple Jagtar Singh and Harbhajan Kaur and Brampton resident Mohammed Zafar in “retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.”

The victims weren’t the intended targets of the hit jobs and were killed by mistake, the OPP has said.

The Canadian Press

– With files from INsauga.com