FORMER MOUNTIE WON'T DO TIME FOR CORRUPTION

Police didn't prove large parts of case, judge says

JORGE LEITE VILA FRANCA DE XIRA, Portugal - Accused of taking more than
$200,000 in bribes from Colombian drug lords, former Mountie Jorge Leite
has walked out of court here with a suspended sentence and a $1,500 fine.

Convicted of corruption for selling out the RCMP to the Cali drug cartel,
Leite, 48, was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison.

But as was expected, Judge Jose Martins immediately suspended sentence and
imposed four years of probation instead, saying the Mounties had failed to
prove a lot of their case against their former colleague.

Then he admonished Leite for keeping bad company in Canada and told him to
keep his nose clean if he wants to stay out of prison.

``You are almost 50 years old and it's time you got some brains,'' Martins
said.

In setting Leite free, Martins threw out a large portion of the RCMP's case
against the former drug squad officer, telling reporters after court the
Mounties may have acted illegally in obtaining a confession from Leite in
Portugal in 1993.

Leite's signed statement, in which he admitted his role as a mole for a
Cali cell in Montreal, should have been taken in the presence of a
Portuguese judge, Martins said.

Nevertheless, the three judges were satisfied Leite had been corrupted by
the Colombians and found that he had sold RCMP information 49 times to a
drug network run by Montreal drug queen Ines Barbosa.

Without the confession, the case against Leite boiled down to his own
admission in court that he accepted only $45,000 in bribes and a $30,000
van from Barbosa, Martins said.

The Mounties failed to prove that Leite had taken more than $200,000 in
bribes or that he knew he was under investigation when he fled Canada in
1991, Martins said.

Leite testified he took the bribes on orders from his supervisor, Inspector
Claude Savoie, to infiltrate the Colombian mob. And while he kept the car,
he gave the $45,000 to his boss, he said.

Savoie committed suicide in 1992 as he was about to be questioned about his
own role as an informant for another Montreal drug cell.

Martins said Leite's admission, his lack of a previous criminal record, and
lingering questions about Savoie's role in the saga all were factors
affecting the sentencing.

Inspector Yves Roussel, who spent the last seven years trying to bring
Leite to justice in Canada or Portugal, said he was pleased with the outcome.

``I'm walking on a cloud,'' Roussel said in a telephone interview from
Montreal. ``The important thing is that Jorge Leite has been found guilty
of corruption, he has a criminal record, and has been found to be a liar.''

Roussel said he was surprised by Martins' comments about the RCMP's conduct
since Leite's signed confession was obtained in the presence of Portuguese
police officers and under the authority of another judge.

Leite, who had promised to speak to reporters after the trial, apparently
changed his mind. He was whisked out of court covered with a coat, and
escorted by police who harassed and threatened reporters who tried to take
pictures.

Carlos Leite, who attended the trial every day, said he was elated his
brother was free but saddened he was now saddled with a criminal record.

``Everybody knows my brother is not completely innocent, but neither is he
as guilty as the RCMP have made him out to be,'' Leite told reporters.

``I think if they (RCMP) had done a thorough investigation they would have
found that everyone on that drug squad was corrupt,'' Carlos Leite said.

Jorge Leite's wife Maria said she was glad the ordeal, in which her husband
was jailed for six weeks while awaiting trial, was over.

``I'm not happy he's been convicted, but I'm glad he's coming home,'' she
said.

The verdict, was a just one, said Leite's lawyer Luisa Seco, accusing the
RCMP of pursuing Leite with a vengeance for the last seven years. ``You'd
think he was Bill Clinton the way they went after him.'