Minister of National Revenue v. Newport Pacific Financial Group SA et al., 2008 ABQB 478

• Judge: Graesser, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (Canada)
• Case Date: July 28, 2008
• Citations: 2008 ABQB 478;(2008), 461 A.R. 268 (QB)

MNR v. Newport Pacific Financial (2008), 461 A.R. 268 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2008] A.R. TBEd. AU.052

Minister of National Revenue (applicant) v. Newport Pacific Financial Group SA and Michael P. Ritter (respondents)

(070142922X1; 2008 ABQB 478)

Indexed As: Minister of National Revenue v. Newport Pacific Financial Group SA et al.

Alberta Court of Queen's Bench

Judicial District of Edmonton

Graesser, J.

August 8, 2008.

Summary:

The Minister of National Revenue was investigating Income Tax Act and Excise Tax Act compliance issues involving the respondents Newport and Ritter. The Minister applied under s. 490.15 of the Criminal Code for an order allowing him to examine and be provided copies of documents and computer records that the RCMP had seized from the respondents in the context of a criminal investigation.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, in a decision reported 406 A.R. 150, allowed the application and, exercising its discretion under s. 495.10, set limitations. The Minister's examination was to be limited to documents which were: (1) relevant to the Minister's investigation; and (2) not the subject of a valid claim to solicitor and client privilege by the respondents or clients of the respondents. The court also ordered the parties to appoint a person selected from the private sector to conduct the relevance and privilege review required by the above result and agree to a time frame for the review. The appointee conducted the review and identified the following three categories of seized documents: (1) excluded irrelevant; (2) clearly relevant and not subject to any claim for non-disclosure; and (3) relevant pursuant to the "catch-all" provision of details. The "catch-all" provision read as follows: "Arrangements promoted and created by Newport and Adopted by its clients can be as simple as taking unreported cash receipts and personally traveling to a tax saving country and depositing the cash into a bank account. Other arrangements may be more elaborate involving numerous foreign trusts, nominees and corporations". It was agreed to turn over the Category 2 documents to the Minister. The appointee did not identify solicitor-client privilege in any of the records referred to in Category 3.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, in supplemental reasons reported below, ordered as follows: (1) the court gave full effect to its previous order; (2) before allowing the Minister full access to Category 3 records, the Minister was to serve a copy of this order, together with the schedule to the appointee's report, to (a) the solicitor who may have provided advice to Newport's clients while she was in Newport's employ, and (b) the Law Society of Alberta.

Editor's Note: This headnote has no topics.

Cases Noticed:

Minister of National Revenue v. Cornfield (2007), 312 F.T.R. 81 (F.C.), consd. [para. 16].

Minister of National Revenue v. Cornfield (2008), 379 N.R. 230 (F.C.A.), consd. [para. 16].

Minister of National Revenue v. Singh Lyn Ragonetti Bindal LLP, [2005] F.T.R. Uned. B10; [2006] 1 C.T.C. 113; 2005 FC 1538, consd. [para. 16].

Minister of National Revenue v. Greater Montréal Real Estate Board (2007), 371 N.R. 7; 2007 D.T.C. 5740; 2007 FCA 346, consd. [para. 16].

Minister of National Revenue v. Norris, [2002] 3 C.T.C. 346; 2002 CarswellNat 1250 (F.C. Protho.), refd to. [para. 18].

Ontario Securities Commission v. Greymac Credit Corp. (1983), 146 D.L.R.(3d) 73 (Ont. Div. Ct.), refd to. [para. 20].

Counsel:

Margaret McCabe and Bonnie F. Moon (Deputy Attorney General of Canada) (Department of Justice Canada), for the applicant;

R.H. Davidson, Q.C. (Davidson Gregory Danyluik), for the respondents.

This matter was heard on July 28, 2008, by Graesser, J., of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Edmonton, who delivered the following supplemental reasons for decision on August 8, 2008.