Accused Canadians seek political asylum

Alleged fraudsters fear reprisal

OTTAWA — Two accused Canadian fraudsters who are believed to have targeted political figures are seeking “political asylum” in the Caribbean Turks and Caicos Islands, alleging that the Canadian government plans to kill them.

Cullen Johnson and Elaine White, who have been on the run since pleading not guilty to fraud charges in Newmarket, Ont., in 2009, told a magistrate in the resort community of Providenciales that they have contacted the United Nations.

“They basically said in open court that they were making a petition to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for political asylum in the Turks and Caicos because they believe (the government) will murder them when they return to Canada,” said Neil Smith, a spokesman for the governor of the British Overseas Territory.

Johnson, a former Toronto police officer, and White, a former forensic accountant, are alleged to have defrauded a number of people through their former private detective agency, Internal Affairs.

An Ontario Superior Court found that former Ontario provincial representative Eric Cunningham was victimized by the firm, finding that it produced “fraudulent” records that purported to show he had $2.3 million in offshore bank accounts as part of a messy divorce action.

Police allege that the firm offered to find hidden offshore money for people engaged in divorces, then create records that showed accounts that did not exist.

Johnson says that he is innocent and is the victim of a conspiracy by powerful Canadian politicians.

The Ontario Provincial Police have been trying to track Johnson and White since 2009, sources say, and helped immigration officials in the Turks and Caicos trace them to a condominium in La Vista Azul Resort, a posh waterfront development in Providenciales. Brad Sullivan, an RCMP officer who is Deputy Commissioner with the Royal Turks and Caicos Island Police Force, said Thursday that his officers assisted in the arrest of the couple last month. The couple was charged with staying longer on the islands than allowed by law. White’s passport was expired.

They have been remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison on Grand Turk pending deportation to Canada, where the OPP is waiting for them.

But when Johnson and White told the magistrate that the Canadian government intended to kill them, and reported contacting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the deportation was apparently put on hold until the refugee agency decides whether the case has merit.

“They could ask us to hold them for a period of time or they could throw it out,” said Smith.

Officials in Turks and Caicos do not anticipate that the United Nations will find that the complaint is founded.

“There’s not a huge history of Canadians who have sought asylum in the Turks and Caicos Islands,” said one government official.

In April, then-associate defence minister Julian Fantino complained to the RCMP after Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson was presented with documents that purported to show that Fantino had offshore bank accounts.

Postmedia News showed the documents to banking experts who said they appeared to be forged. Fantino is one of the politicians about whom Johnson has made apparently unfounded allegations of conspiracy.

The Turks and Caicos Sun reported Monday that Johnson and White are wanted for fraud and money laundering in both Canada and the United States.