Feds to advance cash for Martin's transfer

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Jason Kenney, Canada's secretary of state for multiculturalism, warned Friday that Brenda Martin may still have to serve jail time in Canada after she is transferred home from the prison in Mexico where she is now being held.

Martin told Canwest News Service that Kenney, meeting with her inside the women's prison in Guadalajara, said he couldn't rule out a prison stint once she's transferred from Mexican to Canadian custody.

"I told him in no uncertain terms I could not believe my government had allowed this to happen to me," she said.

"(Kenney) said, �It's not us, Mexico did this to you.' "

Martin said Kenney also warned her she might have to be handcuffed on the flight home.

"Isn't that great?"

"It would be inappropriate for me ... to interfere with or second-guess the judgment [of the Correctional Service of Canada]," Kenney told reporters outside the prison after meeting with Martin.

"Anyone who comes to Canada as part of a transfer treaty remains in the custody of the Correctional Service of Canada. It's up to Corrections to determine the best way to deal with [a transferred prisoner] ... and they will be concerned with the health and safety of that person."

However, Kenney suggested immediate parole was a strong possibility for Martin, and that Canada doesn't expect Mexico to oppose it.

"I think this case is moving very quickly," he added. "The government is doing everything it can to get Brenda back to Canada, and we hope to see that happen really soon.

"We're very hopeful, as I explained to her, that all the steps will be exhausted in very short order, and we hope to see her back in Canada in the very near future, where she will be closer to her family and friends."

Kenney, Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Guillermo E. Rishchynski and Canadian consular officials met with Martin for about an hour and a half. Kenney said that while Martin is very anxious about her immediate future, he couldn't say how long it might take to bring her home.

Kenney was also in the country to meet with Canadian and Mexican officials in order to "sort out the logistics" of Martin's transfer back to Canada, Kenney's executive assistant, Alykhan Velshi, told Martin's friend, Deb Tieleman, in an e-mail Wednesday.

Mexican justice officials appear to have cleared the way for Martin to get out of their country, but the Mexican government is insisting Canada must abide by an international prisoner transfer treaty that could delay her return by up to two weeks, Tieleman said Thursday in Guadalajara.

A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced Martin to five years in prison for knowingly accepting illicit funds and fined her the equivalent of about $3,500. Martin, a chef, had worked for former Alberta resident Alyn Waage, who operated a $60-million Internet-based fraud scheme from a Puerto Vallarta mansion.

Kenney confirmed Friday that Martin's fine has been paid by the Canadian government.

Meanwhile, Martin's lawyer said he's shocked by the reasoning used by the judge to find her guilty and sentence her to five years in prison.

"It is unbelievable," Guillermo Cruz Rico said Friday from his Toronto office. "I am just shocked at how the judge could find her criminally responsible based on the evidence that he cites."

Cruz said Judge Luis Nunez Sandoval took the allegations made by the police and the prosecutors in their original arrest warrant issued for Martin on Aug. 23, 2003, and accepted them verbatim as reason for convicting her.

"All he has done is taken the same allegations that were written by the PGR [federal prosecutors]," Cruz said. "It is all the same arguments."

The judge also relied heavily on voluntary statements made to police by Martin in 2001 and 2002.

Cruz had previously failed to have the charge against Martin thrown out on the grounds Martin was never told she was a suspect when she provided the statements. She was not given the option of having a lawyer present and she was not provided with a translator, the lawyer has said. Cruz said all of those were violations of Martin's rights under both international and Mexican law.

Cruz said Sandoval completely rejected Martin's defence. He said the amount of money she received as a chef -- $500 per week -- was excessive. The judge also said the severance she received -- $26,000 -- after she was fired was also excessive.

"He said the defence was not credible because she failed to mention in her statement that she had worked full-time for Waage."

The judge also dismissed as not credible a sworn affidavit by Waage in support of Martin.

Abiding by the prison transfer treaty may also force Canada to imprison Martin in her home country, a possibility that frustrates Martin.

"How can Canada put me in prison when I am innocent and I have been convicted by a corrupt justice system where they have clearly stated they have no evidence?" Martin said earlier this week in an interview from Puente Grande Women's Prison in Guadalajara.





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I think we should lock her back up when she gets back into Canada and re-try her case. Maybe that will shut her up.

The more I read about this woman the more I feel she is the author of much of her misfortune as she continually breaks the golden rule about speaking ill in public of people who have the ability to help or harm you. It seems clear the Judge is being vindictive, could it be because Martin called him a liar on national TV, while still under his control no less.

Put her in the can until the next election is over because you know who's song she'll be singing

Bet you dollars to doughnuts that the dumb bitch will start slamming the Canadian government once they get her back to Canada. She lied about being ignored by the government and she's a convicted criminal. If paperwork is misfiled that can delay things for along time.