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OTTAWA — The criminal case of suspended public servant Matthew Matchett, who’s accused of leaking similar material to that in the Vice Admiral Mark Norman case, was back in court on Friday for a brief update as it heads toward a preliminary inquiry scheduled for October.
The Matchett case may be the only way the public finds out more information about the controversial Norman prosecution, as Norman’s case was stayed by the Crown in May and he’s since reached a confidential settlement with the government.
Both Matchett and Norman were charged with breach of trust following an RCMP investigation into leaks around a $700-million navy supply ship project with Davie Shipbuilding. However, Matchett was only charged in February 2019, nearly a year after Norman was charged — despite the fact that RCMP disclosure given to Norman’s lawyers had also identified alleged leaks from Matchett.
According to that disclosure, some of which was divulged in court documents filed by Norman’s lawyers last fall, Matchett is believed to have provided physical cabinet documents about the supply ship project — including a PowerPoint presentation deck and a memorandum to cabinet — in a brown envelope to a lobbyist. The RCMP later recovered those documents in a raid on the lobbyist’s office in 2016.
During a December hearing in the Norman case, federal prosecutor Barbara Mercier gave some indication of why Norman was charged before Matchett. “We submit that we’re talking about apples and oranges here,” Mercier told the judge. “Mr. Matchett was an analyst at (the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency). He wasn’t a commander in the navy.”
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