Court of Appeal for Ontario

CITATION: Canada (Attorney General) v. Mgbolu, 2016 ONCA 216

DATE: 20160316

DOCKET: C60965

BEFORE: Doherty, Simmons and van Rensburg JJ.A.

IN THE MATTER OF an application for judicial review pursuant to s. 57 of the Extradition Act, S.C. 1999, c. 18

BETWEEN

Minister of Justice for Canada

Respondent

and

Alex Mgbolu

Applicant (Appellant)

COUNSEL:

Laurence Cohen, for the appellant

Nancy Dennison, for the respondent

HEARD: March 14, 2016

On application for judicial review of the surrender order of the Minister of Justice, dated August 27, 2015.

APPEAL BOOK ENDORSEMENT

[1] There are two issues.

The Disclosure Issue

[2] The Minister refused the request for disclosure of any correspondence in the possession of the Attorney General (Ontario) or the Attorney General (Canada) referable to the decision to terminate the Ontario prosecution and support extradition.

[3] The applicant is not entitled as of right to that disclosure, but must show some air of reality to the argument that the disclosure may support a claim that extradition would violate the applicant’s Charter right.

[4] The Minister found no basis to question the decision to terminate the Ontario prosecution. We agree. Specifically, we see no air of reality to the claim that the affidavit filed in support of the Crown request for an adjournment was somehow misleading and part of a scheme to permit the appellant’s extradition. We note that the request was for an adjournment to October. Had the request been granted, the trial would have proceeded in October, two months before the extradition request was made.

The Cotroni Assessment

[5] We see no factual error in the Minister’s assessment of the Cotroni factors. Having regard to those factors, his assessment is not unreasonable.

[6] The application is dismissed.